Slave to Reason
by Patusco
Summary: His life was over, his goals a failure, all that was left was facing his fate in the executioner plaza. Or so he thought until a blinding light came to him and changed his destiny. Dwarf fortress crossover.
1. Through the Eyes of Reason I

My first fan fiction history, hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it.

Constructive criticism accepted & welcomed, everything that makes us better will always be received with open arms.

normal writing - Fun

Dreams, flashbacks, Whispers - _Chuck Norris eats pasta_

Thoughts, spells - **Monkey magic**

I do not own the familiar of zero franchise nor Dwarf Fortress.

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><p>I jolted awake to find myself lying on the ground sore all over my body; I tried to overcome the growing headache that assaulted my senses to look around at my surroundings, only to find it was pitch dark, and therefore impossible to discern my current whereabouts through sight.<p>

As I finally started to feel good enough to put my mind on gear, the realization of where I was suddenly hit me. I was in a cell; probably a prison cell in the royal catacombs. The stench of sewer water and rotten bodies was too much of a giveaway to miss, also, the intimidating looking royal guard glaring at me through the door hatch helped too.

"It seems you are finally awake fallen _Harish_ (Traitor)," I maintained a neutral face as he said the words, but I felt disgraced to have a lowly prison guard calling me a traitor "The rumors about your fall hold some true, you look pathetic," He declared with a smirk.

Once again I kept silent, no use in getting in a fight with a man at the other side of a door while you are malnourished and weak. After some more snide remarks the guard finally seemed to get bored with my presence and left to who knows where.

"Goblin Crap." I got the annoying guard out of my mind and started to think about everything that had happened to this point with a sour look on my face, it seemed so unreal. And it all started with such a simple thing, a question, a sentence of eight words that changed my life forever.

* * *

><p>"<em>What can change the nature of a man?" Asked the mysterious stranger with a solemn look on his terribly scarred face.<em>

_My mind immediately got to work on the answer, knowing instantly that it was a trick question. Every logical answer surely possessed a counter-argument to void them. The look on the stranger´s face also told me that this wasn´t the first time he had asked this question to someone, I idly wondered what had happened to the other puzzle solvers, but swept the thought out of my mind quickly to avoid distractions._

_I checked every possible answer in a matter of seconds: death, love, pain, hatred, time, coercion, Betrayal... _

_No, no, and no. The stanger narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, time was running out, __**think!**__ Understanding of human nature, split possible instinctive responses to stimuli, mammals tend to find peace in following a leader, pack mentality, simpler of community concepts._

"…_Example" Was my final decision._

"…" _The stranger didn´t said anything for a while, just limiting himself to stare at my eyes. After what seemed like an eternity, he opened his mouth and pronounced the words that ruined my life "Prove it."_

_I was a logical man after all, how could I refuse knowing something?_

* * *

><p>The constant dripping of the pipes on my cell were the only thing maintaining my sense of time active, but nothing mattered to me anymore. I was proven wrong and it was killing me inside. How could I forget such a primal part of the human psyche on my train of thought?<p>

Fear had been my undoing. Since I was fearless I never counted it on the equation, and it cost me dearly. Fear was what put me in my current predicament and would possibly be what is going to kill me in the near future, as the only exit out of the royal prison was the executioner´s axe.

I was so engrossed on my pessimist prediction of the future that when a blinding sun of blue light appeared suddenly in front of my improvised bed of rags and mud, it scared the crap out of me, but not literally of course, I still had my pride.

"In the name of Armok bloody pants, what the hell is this?" At a closer inspection, the blue light seemed to resemble a portal of sorts, strange as it was. Only my experience with strange random things stopped me from getting closer to it, but my curiosity was as always making very convincing arguments. '_**What more have you to lose? You are alone on this world now, nothing ties you.'**_

* * *

><p>Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière stepped forward towards the summoning circle with her head held high and her heart nearly hammering its way out of her chest. She could hear the cruel comments of her peers behind her but choose to ignored them while she walked with all the pride she could build up, although honestly speaking, she was scared out of her mind. She slowly but surely raised her wand above her head and tried to remember the words she had previously thought would rid her of a lifetime of failure. She wasn't so sure anymore. "I beg of you… my servant who lives somewhere in the universe!"<p>

"That's a rather original chant." Said one gorgeous redhead with a raised eyebrow.

"Indeed." Confirmed a blond young man holding a rose beside her.

"…" Even the ever silent blue haired lithe girl took her sight out of her book to look at the pinkette actions.

"Oh sacred, beautiful, and strong familiar spirit! I desire and here I plead from my heart! Answer to my guidance!" With a little twirl of the wrist, Louise brought her wand down in a quick slash, pointing its glowing tip at the pentagram before her. As always, an explosion was the result, one powerful enough to knock even Tabitha's dragon flat onto her behind with a startled screech amidst the many screams and roars of the students and their familiars.

* * *

><p>"<em>I beg of you… my servant who lives somewhere in the universe!" <em>To say that the ethereal voice took me by surprise would be an understatement.

"Huh?" Was my intelligent answer "What th-" Before I could continue my monologue the voice resounded in the meager cell again.

_"Oh sacred,"_ Sacred, me? I somehow really doubted that I could be called sacred after all my pasts deeds.

"_beautiful,"_ Well, the voice is right with that one, I though with a smirk, although I don't think being called beautiful is very manly.

"_and strong familiar spirit!"_ Indeed I am, but what has that strength gained me aside from suffering and disappointment?

"_I desire and here I plead from my heart! Answer to my guidance!" _So that´s what it was all about, nothing more than a pact of servitude. I tsk´ed and tore my gaze from the portal.

"I am not becoming anyone´s slave."

…

…

…

The portal still stood there, like as if it was mocking my lack of courage with its existence.

_**'Its it really worse being a slave than dying? For all you know you could be mistaken.'**_

"I am not afraid of death." I said to myself, but it lacked my usual conviction.

_**'Maybe you aren´t so far from the average human as you thought**__.'_

My hands were shaking_, '__**Thinking with logic doesn´t makes you immune to fear, only to its illogical branch,'**_I closed my eyes to try to shut the voice out of my head, '_**And besides… You´re already a slave of Armok, what could possibly be worse than that?'**_

I stood with shaky steps looking at the portal again, my head a hellfire of possibilities "I really hate my mind." Was the last thing I said before jumping into the arcane apparition.

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><p>When nothing immediately happened Louise´s heart sank to her stomach. With her insecurities coming back at full force her noble pride was the only thing keeping her from breaking out crying. She could see Professor Colbert shaking his head from the corner of her eye.<p>

"This is just like you Louise, all that talking last night was worth it!"

"Yeah, never before have we witnessed such a huge and useless explosion!"

_This was the end, she was going to be disowned, throw out of the academy and forever be remembered as the Zer-_ , her train of thought was suddenly interrupted by an even bigger explosion than the first, the resulting cloud of smoke blinding everyone.

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><p>Complete darkness wasn't exactly what he had been expecting, but it was even more confusing when the weightless feeling he was experiencing inside the portal changed to one of free falling, accompanied by another flash of blinding light.<p>

When he opened his eyes he noticed something bad, he was falling, from very high. He started trying to right himself in a decent lading position that didn't end with a lot of broken bones or him becoming a bloody stain on the floor. He saw a bunch of figures crowed under him, but in his hurry to avoid imminent death, he didn't gave them much thought.

With a grunt of effort he managed to land on a knelling position while making a few cracks on the ground in the process. His landing putted his already strained muscles on a very precarious situation, throbbing constantly in agony, and screaming at their owner to stop being an idiot.

When the smoke finally started to clear out of the way, he saw the figures he recognized before, this time taking care to observe the details.

It was a most bizarre sight, at least a few dozen of children in their adolescent years standing in a semi-circle around at what seemed to be a ritual of sorts. They were dressed in black robes with pants, and skirts in the case of the women, with similar looking socks and shoes, they all seemed to follow the same pattern, an uniform of sorts, perhaps?

Their hair colors seemed to form a rainbow of sorts, with fiery reds, platinum blues and all kinds of abnormalities. Although the most strange thing wasn't the children themselves, but the array of creatures alongside them.

Some were ranging from the ridiculous like a flying eye ball and a frog with a ribbon, others appeared to come from the underworld caverns like the fire salamander, and there was the dragon too. After sighting such a creature peacefully standing among humans he was inclined to believe he had somehow landed in a dwarf settlement, since only the dwarfs were mad enough to try to tame a mythical creature like a dragon.

After finally making sure there weren't any hairy little alcoholic creatures nearby, he stood up ignoring the burning in his legs and back. There were a few "Gasp" and widened eyes after he got to his full height, he assumed they weren't used to tall people, although his 192cm of height were much more than the average back in Tihronea, so he wasn't very surprised at that.

For his surprise he hadn't noticed the other two people standing away from the main group to his left, a fact he related to the readjusting of his eyes to the light, considering they were "Really" noticeable, like really so.

One was a middle aged man with a bald head, glasses, blue robes and a long staff he was currently pointing at him, although discretely. His goofy exterior didn't fooled him, this man was dangerous.

After taking part of the little stare-off with the man he turned to the last other person in the field, and he was very surprised at what he saw. A little girl that anyone would assume to be around twelve years old with long, strawberry blond hair, falling freely to around her waist.

He didn't know why, but he felt a certain attraction to this one, so he decided to get closer to her. With the distance between both lessening he could finally see her eyes more clearly, which turned out to be a very clear pink, similar to the one of her hair, and staring at him with a mix of surprise and anger.

The sharpness of those eyes irked him; they reminded him of something… But he couldn't remember what. He stopped almost right in front of her to keep observing her features. At first glance they looked like those of a child, but close examination showed her to be older, at least sixteen years old. A very beautiful girl indeed, although looking at her now narrowed eyes he noticed there may be an ugly personality behind that cute face.

"Qui êtes-vous?" She said, not that he understood a word of it. They seemed to talk in a melodic tongue similar to that of the northern continents, although more adorned, but the inquisitive nature behind the statement told him she was asking something. Out of the possible things someone may ask to a newcomer, he guessed she wanted to know his name.

He smile at her and pointed a finger to himself "Dirian," he simply say. There was no real need to be more specific, after all, his past self died the moment he jumped into the portal, and as a plus, he never liked long introductions.

She didn't seem very happy with his short presentation and neither his choice of clothes, if the cautious way she keep looking at them mean anything. He didn't like them much either, but he couldn't be picky in a prison. The tattered dirt brown shirt he carried, which may actually could have been tinted with real dirt, didn't exactly match his ankle short fiber rope pants and humble sandals.

"Mon nom est Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, paysan" The long introduction left him with a raised eyebrow, but now he knew for sure they were nobles, considering the only other way to gain such long named status was through distinction in battle, and none of them seemed to have even the slightest combat experience, except maybe for the only old one in the group, whom by the way he never lost of his line sight.

He just shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms over his chests to show he was waiting for her to continue whatever she was doing before. This magic stuff was never fast, and he knew that by experience.

She got the message and took a step towards him; she glanced warily at the baldy and proceeded at his nod. Raising her wand over her head uneasily she did some circular motions in the air.

She seemed to steel her resolve at the laughs and whispers of the other children and repeated the motion more firmly this time, along with some sort of chant which seemed to follow a pattern, a pentagram, he noticed after a few moves. He guessed the ritual would move more smoothly is their height difference disappeared, so he knelled before her still looking straight at her eyes, a gesture that apparently calmed some of her fears.

A few more motions, some words, and she finally seemed to finish, given the tone of closure of the last line. He didn't expect her though to quickly shut her eyes close, mutter something with disdain and kiss him in the lips.

A quick thought passed his mind at that moment, '_**maybe this isn't going to be so bad after all**__,' _and he had to give her some credit for making his mind to stop on its tracks, something that seldom happened before, even at the most heated of his battles.

He gave her an amused smirk when their lips finally parted and she blushed a pink tone that could match her hair and narrowed eyes. Though his amusement was short lived. Just a few seconds after separating an incredible burning pain appeared on his left hand, clouding all of his senses with intense agony.

He lifted his hand to watch a series of runes to begin marking themselves on his skin, in a very slow and painful manner. A little itch at the back of his mind made him feel like passing out would mean losing something important, so he gritted his teeth and endured the process.

And then, it was over before he knew it, but the little itch remained. He tried to reach it only to feel himself recoil with pain again, this time from inside his head. The scream he hold back last time came out in full force, making everyone close by wince at his obvious suffering.

"Z-z-zero yo-you´re going to kill him at this ra-rate" Said the fiery redhead. '_**Wait a minute**__,'_ he thought between groans, '_**I actually understood that, is this some kind of translation spell?'**_

He didn't have time to wonder that line of thought before another influx of information, as he now knew it to be, reached him. He was awed, so much knowledge, everything you could´ve possibly wanted to know about any and all weapons in existence. The immensity of it over-loaded his brain, and only his super human willpower kept him on his feet, though barely. The feeling was like being swallowed by a giant tidal wave-He was drowning. His mind couldn't no longer resist the constant punishment and decided to do the smart thing, shutting down all contact with the real world.

As he was fading away into darkness, the world traveler resumed all his feelings into a short sentence "Goblin crap." And he knew no more.

* * *

><p>After her new familiar lost consciousness during the summoning ritual, Louise had to ask the other nobles for help to carry the massive man back to her room in the academy. Despite her pride, there was no possible way for her to even lift him off the ground, and using her magic on him would probably do more harm than good, she admitted grudgingly. Predictable enough, it was Guiche who offered his help, and so as he was casting a levitation spell on the fallen newcomer Professor Colbert approached her with a thoughtful look on his face.<p>

"Miss Vallière," He said with a careful tone "Despite the holiness of the spring familiar summoning ritual, I must still warn you about something regarding this character." It was really weird seeing the normally clumsy Professor so serious.

"What would that be?" She asked warily, even is the fallen man looked suspiciously like a commoner, the summoning ritual was her first successful spell and her ultimate proof of her magical inheritance, and now here was Colbert trying to spoil her triumphal mood.

"I have never felt such an intense smell of blood on any person, ever" The magic professor said with a grim expression. '_**Smell of blood? What is he talking about?' **_Wondered a confused Louise.

He seemed to feel her confusion and his expression returned to its normal goofy demeanor, although still quite serious. "Don't worry about that Miss Vallière. Surely it's just a mistake on my part," He told her with a smile.

* * *

><p>So here she was, sited beside her bed watching her new familiar sleep. She hadn't really taken much of his features before, but now she noticed his skin was not brown like she had originally thought, but a light peach, probably darkened by many hours under the sun; his black hair fell freely in wild locks around his face, obscuring his rough but elegant features.<p>

She hesitantly reached his face with her hand to touch a small scar on his cheek; the roughness of his skin awed her. She kept at trailing his features with her hand until she touched his lips, the same lips she had kissed just a few hours ago, '_**and you liked it**__.'_

The suddenness of the thought made her blush scarlet and shaking her head. '_**What I am thinking about! He is the one who should be honored to kiss me; I didn't like it at all, not even a little.'**_

While she was shaking her head wildly from side to side, she didn't notice that the man´s eyebrows and fingers twitched minutely, and she almost jumped to the ceiling when he woke up with a sudden jolt.

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><p>Dirian looked around the room he woke up in quickly inspecting for any threats, but when he saw the pink haired girl from before he remembered the incident with the runes and looked at his hand, and surely, there was an intricate web of carvings and symbols on his skin. "Such a barbaric way to seal a pact." He thought out loud.<p>

"What do you mean barbaric?" She asked with no small amount of anger in her voice and her recent surprised completely forgotten.

_**She took offense on that? Strange AND sadistic girl. I better try not to anger her further unless I feel like getting another artistic tattoo through my soul.**_

"Nothing at all," He replied with an insincere smile, but she didn't need to know that "It seems we have started with the proverbial wrong foot, so let me present myself," He did a grand gesture accompanied by a smile "My name is Dirian, may I know yours my lady?"

She seemed unsure of how to react to his sudden change of mood, but she answered his question nonetheless. "As I told you before commoner, my name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, and you´ll do good not to forget it again." His eyebrow twitched slightly but he controlled himself, no need to blow her cloud, after all he didn't really made it clear before that he didn't get a single word of what they were saying.

"Forgive me Ms. Vallière; it's a crime to forget one such as you," He let out an inward laugh at that one "I assume this rune here marks me as your servant, am I right?" He asked a little more serious this time.

"Indeed it does, is there any problem?" She asked in a low tone, it was clear she like to be in charge, an amusing thought.

"None at all," He replied with another smile, this time actually sincere "I just needed to confirm who I was going to give my life for," that seemed to take her by surprised, but he didn't paid it much mind before getting out of the bed in two motions, carefully stretching his muscles to check for lasting damage. Finding none, he proceeded to bow in front of her.

"I´ll be your shield, protecting you from harm; I'll be your voice, carrying your will across the four winds; I´ll be your sword, slaying your every foe; I am yours forever, this I swear on my soul" he finally said sealing his fate and leaving her with her mouth wide open. It seemed fitting for the occasion to quote the knight´s chant, and a little of formality would ease his pride at being marked as living furniture a little.

"Now that´s out of the way, with your permission I am going to familiarize myself with the layout of the castle." Still too shocked to speak, Louise just nodded her head, at which he left through the door closing it quietly on his way out.

The small mage just stood there, staring at the door with a dumb-struck expression for a while, before looking first at the floor then at her bed. She just let herself fall over the fluffiness while she continued thinking about the words of her familiar. Strange as he was, she had to admit he had a way with words.

"Yours forever…" She softly whispered his words before surrendering herself to exhaustion.

* * *

><p>The now officially proclaimed familiar was walking through the halls of Tristain Academy of Magic at a leisured pace, while the inside of his mind was raging with an endless line of thoughts respecting his current situation.<p>

After sobering up of his slumber on his new master´s bed, he remembered all about the rune incident, which served to prove the seriousness of the whole deal. The power he felt cursing in his veins while the marking was taking place was otherworldly, ancient and incredibly powerful. Even if his mind suppressed most of the information he could still remember the main idea-weapons, an infinite library of weapon´s knowledge, maybe even more. The problem now was getting to it, considering that his encounter before with the library was most probably a mistake on the planning by whoever invented the ritual. There had to be a catalyst to access the knowledge the way it was intended to, but the key of the puzzle avoided him.

Even while he was pondering this he was actually memorizing every corridor, hall and stairway he walked through, a little something he called "reflexion mode", an act that needed utmost concentration on his part, mostly at the expense of zoning out and walking blindly. He was throw out his theories when he suddenly crashed with something soft and he heard a loud "Kya!".

By pure instinct alone he reached out for whatever he had stumble with before it landed on the floor, when his mind finally synched back with his body he realized he was holding a girl with short black hair and dressed in maid garments.

"Are you alright?" He asked her slightly concerned; after all it was mostly his fault for not paying attention.

She seemed reluctant to say anything until she realized Dirian´s style of clothing "Um… yes, thank you." She said with a little smile.

_**'**_**It seems she´s wary of nobles, interesting, and showing a possible abuse of power by the ruling class,**_**' **_he rolled his eyes at that '**typical.**_**'**_

After exchanging a few more words with the maid, he let her go making sure she was really fine. He didn't miss the fact she was the only person with black hair he had seen since he arrived, '**Siesta, huh**_**?'**_

He gave a sideway glance to the twin moons on the sky and sighted with nostalgia. This truly proved he wasn't in Xaldria anymore, and as disappointed as he was with his homeland he would still miss many things, '**and people too**,' he thought for a second before shrugging it out of his mind, there was no use in getting all broody now.

* * *

><p>Upon returning to his little master´s room he found her on her bed hugging a pillow with an uber-adorable look on her face, while mumbling incomprehensibly. '<strong>Just a Child after all<strong>.'

He smiled at the sight and covered her with a nearby blanket; looking around the room he found a little pile of hay on the floor. He assumed this was as far as he would get for sleeping accommodations, not that it bothered him, he had years of experience sleeping in nightmarish shit holes, and that little spot actually looked quite comfortable to him. He shifted a bit before putting his back against the wall and dozing off to recount the day events.

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes<strong>

For those who don´t know, Armok, the god of blood is the deity from which the game Dwarf Fortress takes its name.

I seriously recommend the game for anyone with interest in extremely interactive rpg/city(Fort in this case) managing.

Thanks For reading!


	2. Memories: Of pain and discovery

My first fan fiction history, hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it.

Constructive criticism accepted & welcomed, everything that makes us better will always be received with open arms.

normal writing - Fun

Dreams, flashbacks, Whispers - _Chuck Norris eats pasta_

Thoughts, spells - **Monkey magic**

**Ps. I indeed forgot to mention all the the FUN I had while playing dwarf fortress for the first time, and the second, and the third and so on.  
>I completely recommend it for anyone that likes challenging games, and posseses a bit of a masochist side.<strong>

I do not own the familiar of zero franchise nor Dwarf Fortress.

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><p><em>The first memory that comes to his mind of his childhood is very vague; he can no longer remember anything but the sensations, probably due to intense trauma, but the signs are there to be seen; heat, pain and suffocation, a fire.<em>

_He remembers waking up between a chorus of moans and crying voices. With no more feelings on his body than pain and numbness, he tried to open his eyes just to find out he couldn't see anything, just shades and intense colors that pained his ocular organs._

_He isn't sure of how long he spent in that place, time had lost its meaning, and all that remained was a world sensations, from the strange smell of a calloused hand touching where it hurt the most, to the eventual soft hands that opened his mouth and poured liquid down his scorched throat and to the constant cries of the other residents._

_After what could have been one week or one year, he finally regained some semblance of his ability to see._

_Although it was like seeing a completely different world now, whenever he opened his eyes he perceived every single detail around himself, trivial things like the endless revolutions of a fly´s wings over a spoonful of rotten soup, the dancing curves of a candle´s flame, the mosaic of colors that the window´s glass created when light passed through it, everything was beautiful and awe-inspiring, the downside was that his mind couldn't keep with his eyes, resulting in excruciating headaches, many were his sleepless nights from the moment his sight returned._

_After some time, more specifically when his ability to walk without help improved, he was released from his sanctuary into a world that was foreign to him, the words "We don't have enough food for all" still ringing in his ears._

_He spent his days looking through the garbage to sustain himself, sleeping under bridges, and observing the world around him, observing and learning was his only solace on the cold days in the hamlet of "SnackTest", he watched each day how in the morning everyone got out of their sleep induced slumber and wobble over to their respective works, how they stopped at noon to eat their share of the crops, and how they wandered idly by the town before returning to their houses in the evening, and so everything would repeat itself each day._

_The only thing that actually changed from time to time was the daily training drills of the local guard, with their shiny swords and thick armor, they woke up earlier than everyone else to run laps around the town and train their abilities in combat._

_Although they were quite surprised at first, they soon stopped giving much thought to the small child that trailed them every day and eagerly copied their movements during training._

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes: This is the first chapter of the Memories´s arc, and while its not completely vital to read it to understand the main plot, it does help in shedding some light about Dirian´s past. The length of the chapters of this arc in particular will vary a lot, some will be very short like this one, while others may take a few pages to write. Another thing about them its that they are meant to look abstract and mostly ridden by sensations and emotions, just like a dream.<em><br>_**


	3. Through the Eyes of Reason II

My first fan fiction history, hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it.

Constructive criticism accepted & welcomed, everything that makes us better will always be received with open arms.

normal writing - Fun

Dreams, flashbacks, Whispers - _Chuck Norris eats pasta_

Thoughts, spells - Monkey magic

I do not own the familiar of zero franchise nor Dwarf Fortress.

* * *

><p>Dirian had his first good rest in a very long time that night; it was a little disconcerting to him not having to worry about wandering packs of wolves or stray bandits looking for an easy prey, but he welcomed the new feeling.<p>

The sun rays gently licked at his face while he stood up to check on his master, which he found still sleeping like a rock in a very different position than last night, all tangle up with the blanket, hugging the pillow like a lifesaver and with her neck in an awkward position. '**That can´t be healthy,' **he reasoned with a raised eyebrow.

Deciding just to ignore the pinkette´s mysterious sleeping habits he proceeded to give the room a deeper analysis, more interested in any possible weakness than the esthetic.

The room was as expected, very well decorated, fit for any noble family, with expensive carpets lying on the floor, finely crafted dressers, a drawer and a desk that apparently served as a study by all the books that rested on it.

His eyes immediately lit up at that, he never actually had much of a chance to read in his homeland given the fact that Xaldrians weren't exactly the most artistic inclined people. His passion for the written art took control and he jumped to check the contents of the leather bound literary treasures, only to be disappointed after looking at their insides filled with symbols and diagrams he didn't understand.

He whimpered a bit at that, so much knowledge in front of him, so close and yet so far. Then he remembered the supposed translation spell and hurried to look inside the book again, this time concentrating on the symbols themselves. To his surprise, he got this weird feeling of recognition while looking at the ink drawings, like when you see something previously forgotten.

He let a happy smile escape his lips; it seemed like not all the information from the ethereal library, as he now decided to call it, disappeared upon blacking out, it was simply buried deep inside his subconsciousness.

He theorized that learning the language would be dozens, if not hundreds of times easier to learn, since he would be technically "remembering " instead of learning it anew per say.

He would still need someone to teach him though, given the great difference between his former tongue and this new array of mixed symbols. He remembered then that he was in an academy, a center of wisdom and learning. His incredible shower of luck this morning had already made him a very happy man.

Upon looking up from the book he found himself stared down by a smiling figure that resulted very familiar to him, after a few seconds he realized he was in front of a mirror and the smile faded away.

He was a mess; his black hair was spread out in all directions obscuring his green eyes marked with lack of sleep, a wild beard had started to appear on his face, only helping in reinforcing the already apparent image, showing his lack of care to his appearance.

He scratched softly at the scar on his left cheek, trying to remember the last time he had been in such a precarious state, a long forgotten memory came to his mind.

* * *

><p><em>His face collided with a loud smack against the hard granite floor, leaving a bloody trail coming down his nose.<em>

"_Come on little kid! We know you can do better than that." He managed to stand back up with some effort helping himself with the pommel of his rusty practice sword, all the time looking angrily at the source of his humiliation._

"_Don't give me that face; you were the one that made the idiotic decision of challenging me," he hissed at the man in the other side of the field holding an equally rusty sword pointed at him "Like you ever had a fighting chance." He said with a smirk. _

_He lunged at the man with all the strength his mangled body could muster, only for his charge to be stopped with a single shield bash to the face that left him seeing stars._

"_You aren't worth my time." The man said with a sneer before turning away, but he stopped when he heard the familiar sound of metal scratching against stone, this little one was persistent._

_Just as he was turning around he lifted his sword by reflex, effectively parrying away a high slash "That´s more like it." the look on the kid´s eyes now was determined and fiery._

_The kid charged again, this time more controlled and precise, making the old guard captain lift an eyebrow at the sudden change. They shared blow after blow, on almost equal ground at the start, but the obvious endurance difference between both gave the bigger man the advantage in a long battle, so the child needed to finish the battle fast if he wanted any chance of winning._

_He used his smaller size to crouch under a slash of the older man and tackled him at the leg, making him loose his balance. The child took this precious seconds of advantage to jump at the man with his sword aimed at the other´s neck._

_Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for the guard captain, the elder recovered from his earlier maneuver and shield bashed him in the face, again._

…

…

…

_He was resting at the guard´s quarters that evening while checking the wounds on his reflection in the water of a pot. The blood on his nose had dried already, but the wound at the top of his head was still bleeding, making his hair stick to the side of his face._

_He felt something hit his shoulder and found it out to be a piece cloth. "You should clean that wound well kid, unless you want to spend the next two weeks with an infection." He nodded to the veteran captain and started to clean his wound with the cloth, grimacing a bit at the pain._

"_You carried yourself very well in battle, for a kid at least." He said with another of his trademark smirks, the kid just narrowed his eyes at him in annoyance._

"_Who would have thought you were such a fiery little dir rrian (stubborn dog)," He got quiet for a while after saying that, the little fighter was glad that the old man was being sensitive for once. He should´ve known better._

"_HEY GUYS, I JUST GOT THE PERFECT NAME FOR OUR NEWEST RECRUIT!" Screamed the loud old man, making all the other guards turn to him with interest._

"_All meet Dirian Noloccek (Battlehound)!" The exclamation was meet by a loud cheer and laughter filled the night sky._

* * *

><p>Dirian let out a low chuckle at the memory; it had been one hell of an embarrassment hearing all the guards making songs about his new name. He never actually told them, but that was one of the happiest days of his life.<p>

For a newly born logical mind such as his, not knowing something was infuriating, but not knowing his name was just downright depressing. That´s why he carries his given name with pride, even if it was mean as a joke. Although there may be some true to its meaning considering how many troubles his stubborn nature brought him with the past of the years.

He turned around just in time to watch the little mage wake up. "Good morning, my Lady," He told her with his usual smile "It´s a fine day, isn´t it?"

* * *

><p>Louise didn't exactly shared her familiar´s good mood, with all that had been happening since yesterday she was utterly confused and having trouble to catch up. And her familiar, that know-it-all buffoon just seemed to accept everything that came his way as it is.<p>

Ever since his strange revelation last night she had been thinking of ways to regain at least some semblance of control over the situation, but to no avail. Not even ordering him to dress her every morning from now on and washing her garments in an attempt against his pride seem to bother him, although he did looked somewhat confused about the request at first.

The way he handled her over the whole dressing process made her rethink the idea; he just did it in the same manner one would dress a child, he even guided her limbs into the clothes. Not even her disturbed glances to his face bothered him, he just replied with one of those cryptic smiles.

**Those infuriating, egocentric, superior and… gentle smiles.**

"The architecture of this place is exquisite," she heard him say. She just nodded her head in agreement "although is kind of exaggerated in certain stances." He commented again with a raised eyebrow after seeing a carved representation of a bearbug.

She was utterly glad when he declared he had something else to do when they were heading to the dining hall. She didn't even pay attention to the convenient and logical reason he came up with to excuse himself, the young mage knew it was going to sound convincing anyways.

* * *

><p>Dirian had a sudden feeling that something was making his little master uncomfortable, but dismissed the thought over looking at the entrance of a place that caught his interest the day before, and which was known only by a vague name. Given his recompiled knowledge of the academy layout obtained last night, that would be the library.<p>

He entered what he assumed would the equivalent of an adamantine mine of knowledge to find himself in shock; rows upon rows of bookshelves lined upon each other farther than the eye could see, or at least that´s how it looked to him in his current state of bewilderment.

Were he a lesser man he would have broken out crying right there, but looking at the books took precedence.

He was once again disappointed beyond measure when he remembered the little fact about him not knowing how to read the local tongue, so he limited himself to repeatedly hit the wall with his head until enlightening came to him, or so he hoped.

He was brought back to the land of the sane by the strange feeling you get when you are doing something stupid and were discovered. He turned around to find himself being stared by a young and very small blue haired teen holding a staff bigger than she; he thought he saw her back when he first came through the portal.

"…"

"…"

They keep staring into each other eyes until he couldn't no longer keep his embarrassment under control, letting a shy chuckle escape his mouth.

"I know that must have looked… strange, but it's not what you think," he told her, but the impassive stare somewhat unnerved him "mostly."

"Weird" was the only thing she answered to his unusual lack of charisma, leaving him even more worried. She then grabbed a book from one of the bookshelves and turned around walking away.

The gears in Dirian´s head started working again, she was in the library while her peers were eating, and he assumed she either liked to be alone or had some free time, maybe both, decreasing the chances of her talking about anything he did or say to anyone else.

He decided to try his luck despite the fact she most probably thought him clinically insane "Wait!"

She stopped and slowly tore her sight from her book to stare at him again; Dirian took her silence as a permission to talk. He thought of asking about his most immediate problem. Given its nature, he doubted his master, which seemed to be ridiculed by her comrades would be of much help.

"Excuse my suddenness, but do you know of someone who could teach me the written language you use around these parts?" She seemed to ponder the idea for a bit before looking at him again, this time with an interrogative air. '**She wants to know why,' **he deduced. He pondered for a bit before answering.

"I could tell you many different reasons, but none of them as honest as the simple true," He said before smiling "I love reading." He didn't even bother explaining he didn't know how to read their language because of his origins, something told him that it would have made no difference to her.

"…" She kept silent for a while looking straight at his eyes, like as if she were searching for any sign of dishonesty and sizing him up.

"Ask Professor Colbert." She finally said in her monotone voice before turning around the corner she came from.

Dirian spent some time in silence before making an inward commentary about the whole exchange of words,** 'that was rather … interesting.'** His thoughts about the blue haired mage were interrupted by a grumbling sound that he recognized as his stomach making a formal protest about the lack of food in his life.

* * *

><p>While he was on his quest to find proper nourishment, Dirian found the same maid he helped before, Siesta was her name if he remembered right.<p>

After a short introduction and his explanation for wandering suspiciously close to the kitchen, she seemed to believe he was being punished with being left to starve or something of the sort by his little master. Something he didn't outright deny in case she decided to give him some pity food, which she did.

"I can´t believe the cruelness of nobles, leaving someone to starve is simply evil!" her ranting about nobles went on and on for a while before they entered the kitchen to get him some food.

She even presented him to the head chef, a bulky man with an enormous moustache and a proportionally big hatred for the mistreatment of his commoner comrades. The man thought Dirian to be some kind of revolutionary trying to overthrow the nobles from inside their society. Something which, again, he didn't deny and received even more food because of it.

"Brothers in arms must always stay together!" He emphasized his pain by slapping him hard in the back.

Since the location of his little master after breakfast was unknown to him, he decided to follow Siesta on her errands, even helping a bit on the way.

He hoped in this way to form some kind relationship of I'll help you for food, effectively avoiding possible starvation in the future in case he angered in some way his easily irritable master.

When it came to the moment of delivering some cake to a table with a pair of nobles he chose this moment to deliver the cake in her stead and make himself scarce after doing so, he was surprised at the amount of work needed to maintain the castle in a good state, and staying with the ever talking maid for the rest of the day wouldn't be any good for his already precarious sanity.

"Keeping the halls clean is a work that needs dedication and endurance." He grunted in response.

"Cleaning the cobwebs from the ceiling requires a steady hand and nerves of steel." Another grunt.

"Miss Rizou is always so kind, it really is a pity that her allergies makes her sneeze over the food." In no more than five hours he knew all the known's and how's of castle keeping. Something so utterly useless to him that it actually made him wish not to know something.

**'Seriously, how much can she talk! She seemed all shy and quiet last night.'**

As he approached the table with his unbeatable smile he noticed that both of the nobles sitting on it were part of the summoning ritual too, just like the blue haired one. One was a girl with blond hair falling in exotic drills, on her hand was a frog with a red ribbon tied at its neck, and the boy, equally blond too, was petting a giant mole. Suffice to say that Dirian found it quite disturbing to watch.

His decision of leaving the cake quickly and running away in case whatever kind of idiocy they had was contagious was ruined when the blond boy spoke up.

"You are zero´s commoner familiar. Are you so rude like to ignore a noble twice, peasant?" The world traveler just raised an eyebrow at the question.

**'Twice implies I have ignored him before, but I can't remember ever doing so…. Unless.'** And then he understood, the idiot-looking noble must have tried speaking to him while he was in his "Reflective mode", effectively being ignored as a result.

While it was not explicitly his fault, he thought it did indeed was kind of rud- His track of thought was interrupted when he remembered the entire scene.

It was very similar to this one; in fact, the only differences are the scenery… and the girl.

"Oh, yes. Excuse my rudeness," Dirian finally told him with the most devilish smile he could muster. "I thought you wouldn't like to be bothered since you were courting a different person this time"

Dirian found the magnitude at which his eyes could widen impressive, and the face of realization of the blonde made it even more amusing to watch. This was payback for all the commoner´s commentaries; he was getting rather tired of them.

"H-how dare you to speak such lies in front of a lady." Was his smart response. '**Trying to change the subject won't save you.' **Thought Dirian upon looking at the expression on the other blond´s face. Anger was something he was very familiar with.

"Guiche" '**Ah, so that was his name'** "What is he talking about?"

"Nothing coherent Montmonrency, just some wild tale about…" '**Time to have some fun**.'

"Him courting other women?" Dirian supplied with a smile. Guiche´s expression morphed to one of anger and panic in a matter of seconds.

"Guiche," She started dangerously "Is that true?" If possible, his eyes widened even more.

"Of course not my sun flower! Nothing more than the crazy ravings of a jealous commoner," **This guy really doesn't know who he is messing with** "Don't concern your beautiful self with such lows." Said Guiche while making exaggerated gestures with his rose/wand.

"True to that, you shouldn't believe one such as myself," He said with a sardonic laugh "You should ask the girl herself." Declared Dirian while pointing in the direction of the approaching dwarven powder bomb.

"WHAT!" screeched the panicking blond.

The human familiar had the decency of not throwing more fuel to the proverbial fire; he just backed away a few steps and enjoyed the show. The ongoing argument attracted even more curious people and ended up forming a crowd around the trio.

Dirian took a moment to wonder why he had even bothered to answer the soon-to-be-punished blond; he didn't usually care much for loudmouths.

**'Maybe it was his unfaithfulness.'** After all, Dirian did hate all kinds of betrayal.

The argument reached its grand finale while Dirian wondered about his motives; he turned around to find the once proud noble on the floor, along with two berry red slap marks on his face.

"You!" he said with barely contained anger while pointing at Dirian with his rose (wand?) "I challenge you to a duel for the offenses committed against me and these two innocent ladies."

"The only offense I see here it's you trying to blame another for your own idiocy." answered a much more serious Dirian, although the crowd didn't share his mood while mocking the already flustered blond.

"I shall be waiting for you on the grounds in front of the vestry, commoner of Zero." Guiche replied with as much anger as his wounded pride allowed him.

The until now absent Siesta finally appeared suddenly at Dirian´s side with a pale face. "Sir Dirian… you just accepted a duel with a noble." She stated like as if she were trying to make him understand the folly of his ways.

"I know, Miss Siesta. That´s just what I intended to do." The little prick not only insulted him, but his master too. He wasn't going to hold back.

Dirian didn't wait to hear Siesta´s answer and just walked towards what he assumed was the vestry.

* * *

><p>This was a disaster, an absolute disaster.<p>

Louise was currently in the middle of getting to her room to rest from the day activities when she overheard some people gossiping about "_a commoner dueling against a noble_".

That perked her ear, but when she heard the commoner´s description she was instantly running towards the vestry.

Who would have thought that her familiar was stupid enough to mess with a noble while she wasn't close, or actually mess with nobles at all?

She was already imagining the verbal and probably physical lashing she would be giving him soon. But for now the important was making sure he didn't get himself killed.

* * *

><p>Dirian was annoyed. It had been already over ten minutes since he arrived at the designate spot and the loudmouth noble was still saying that stupid over-rehearsed speech. His twitching eyebrows were already numb from all the activity; he needed to stop this idiocy and fast.<p>

"In the name of all that is sacred, shut the hell up!" He finally exploded after five more minutes of mayor cliché phrases "Can we start this damned duel already?"

"Stop this!" he heard a familiar voice scream from the sidelines and was gifted with the sight of his overzealous master.

"No," was his simple answer, the shocked Louise never expected her familiar to talk back to her. "I grow tired of this babbling idiot, and someone has to stop him before he starts believing that stupid speech actually sounds smart."

"I order you to stop this immediately, you commoner dog!" She screamed with an angry voice which only served in worsening his mood, his duty was protecting her from harm, not obeying her orders. Her expression changed to worry when he just scowled.

"Please! You are going to get hurt." She said jn a pleading voice after noticing threats wouldn't work on him.

His expression softened up a bit upon hearing those words. He stared at her face for a while with a neutral expression, looking for any sign of dishonesty and she stared back trying to transmit her worries to him.

He was once more attracted to those amethyst eyes dripping with emotion. He sighted before relaxing his face into a weak smile, '**this is a first, someone is worrying about my wellbeing unnecessarily.'**

"I thank you for your concern, master, but I already agreed to do this and my honor obliges me to comply," He told her softly with a gentle smile "Don't worry though; I am going to win this duel." He told her firmly, she didn't even seem to notice him addressing her as master.

Her expression remained somewhat worried, but she seemed to believe him a bit at least.

"You should listen to your master, commoner." Said Guiche with an annoyed look at being ignored so blatantly.

Dirian just snorted in response and got into his unarmed battle stance. That seemed to throw Guiche off a little; **He doesn't expect an unarmed opponent to be a threat, an amateur´s mistake.**

"You are going to fight with your hands?" The confusion in that question was palpable, and the crowd shared an equally bewildered look.

"Do you see any weapons around here?" Dirian asked tiredly, at which the entire crowd seemed to look around dumbly "No, you don't." He deadpanned.

He sighted at their common idiocy, but was taken quite by surprised when something blue stabbed itself on the ground beside him. He realized it was an ice sword at first sight, when he glanced in the direction the sword came from he noticed the presence of certain blue haired mage in the crowd.

His surprised look morphed to a grateful smile and she nodded at him. He reached out for the sword and was surprised to see the runes on his hand lit up when he grabbed the handle.

He could feel it again; the ethereal library was open to him. Although the knowledge this time was limited only to his current weapon type, it was still immense and breath taking.

Dirian did a few basic moves and was once again surprised by the fluidness and strength behind his movements. So he was right after all, the runes did something else besides just granting knowledge.

While all of this took place, Guiche was still oblivious to his opponent full capabilities, so he decided for a quick end with one of his strongest spells.

"My name is Guiche the Bronze. Therefore the bronze Golem, Valkyrie, shall be your opponent," he declared letting a single petal from his rose fall, and from the place where the petal had fallen sprouted a tall suit of armor. This made Dirian lift an eyebrow.

**A… miniature bronze colossus?** Wondered Dirian while remembering all his encounters with the fearful and almost unstoppable warriors of metal.

When the golem came at him with a raised fist at speeds rivaling those of any athletic human, Dirian most simple response was side stepping the attack. He was left speechless when the golem just passed beside him unable to right its course, and crashed in the floor pathetically.

The entire clearing was quiet for a while, aside from the _clank-clank_ of the metal golem in the floor.

"Um…" Dirian coughed into his fist and pointed towards the still prone bronze construction now struggling to stand up. "Really?" He asked Guiche with a deadpanned expression.

Dirian reached to rub his temples in an attempt of lessening the effects of his growing headache. '**I can't believe I just compared a bronze Colossus with that… sad thing.'**

The golem finally managed to rise from his prone position with a triumphal final push, only to be transformed into two different halves by Dirian´s horizontal slash.

**'May you be reborn into a more fitting form.' **Mourned the familiar of zero with a sad expression. '**No one deserves to be so pathetic.'**

Dirian was actually a little impressed, key word little, at the noble´s ability to create a living creature out of nowhere. Although their usefulness in battle appeared to be that of cannon fodder.

"How did you… no matter," said the now not so sure of himself blond. "You won't be that lucky this time" He let four more petals fall to the floor, creating an equal number of trash... golems.

**'Are all people around here this mentally impaired?' **Dirian asked himself with a sigh before charging the valkyries.

The first one in line, armed with a greatsword, tried for a high slash aimed at his shoulder. He side stepped again while dexterously cutting the creature´s arms with his own attack. The second one, armed with a battle axe, did a great swipe with the intention of making him repeat the first valkyrie´s death. He just crouched under it and the attack collided with the armless golem, taking it out.

The other two golems, armed with a spear and shield respectively, joined their remaining companion in trying to surround him. He waited for the right moment and did a spin attack, cutting limbs and heads alike. The last remaining shield golem, which survived by sacrificing his left arm while shielding the rest of its body with the massive buckler, just kept standing there covering. Dirian decided for a thrust with the sword towards the general area of the golem´s body with all his weight behind it. The attack pierced both the shield and the golem´s head, and so the last of the valkyries fell to the floor with an empty sound.

"That's n-n-not possible," Stuttered a panicking Guiche. "It must be that magic sword, there´s no way a simple commoner could take out my valkyries." He did a final grand gesture leaving another petal fall to the floor, this time the resulting golem looked a little more like an imposing opponent, thought barely.

"Face my greatest creation! A fully armored Valkyrie" Described a strangely cheery blond noble, considering how scared he was just seconds ago.

The sword using familiar had enough of this game and decided to end it, but not before throwing the sword with pin point accuracy towards the golem´s chest, the sword stabbing itself hilt deep effortlessly.

Dirian wasted no time and rushed towards the bronze colossus wanna-be. Even without the improvement from the runes he was lighting fast to the students eyes. He used the momentum he gained during his run to jump kick the golem out of the way, effectively pinning it to the floor when the sword stabbed itself through the golem´s chest in the earth.

* * *

><p>Guiche was so stunned by the sight of his fallen Valkyrie that he didn't immediately process the horrible pain that surged in his midsection.<p>

Before he knew it, he was vomiting his lunch on the floor, along with some minute drops of scarlet liquid. He looked up from the fist connected to his body to the glaring face towering him from above.

"A weapon is nothing more than a tool, child," The monster said with a cold voice. "It can only be as strong as its wielder."

"Remember that and maybe you won't be so pathetic in the future." Guiche just nodded, he was too scared to do anything else. He swore to himself to never again underestimated anyone, ever.

He saw the huge man´s fist coming towards his face and then he knew no more.

* * *

><p>The man of another world payed no mind to the stares of the crowd while he walked towards where the last Valkyrie had been pinned. The only remains were a small monticule of metal with the ice sword in the middle of it. He reached for the sword and made his way towards a single figure in the crowd. The students practically jumped out of the way and left him facing a single blue haired girl still staring at him emotionlessly, but her eyes betrayed her inner conflict.<p>

"Thank you very much, young mage, your ability to mold ice it's quite astonishing to say the least." He praised her while handing back the sword, only to see it melt away at her touch.

**'So it was only temporal? A shame.'** He thought regrettably, it was a fine weapon.

"Tabitha." Said the pint sized mage. He assumed that was her name and nodded with a smile in response.

"Dirian." And with that he walked back to his shell shocked master.

* * *

><p>Louise the zero was having trouble sleeping that night. All of her thoughts revolved around her misterious familiar and his massive strength. When asked about it he just answered with a cryptic "We´ll talk about it tomorrow." And of course, another of his smiles.<p>

Her heart started hammering in her chest at remembering his last words.

* * *

><p>"<em>You are stronger than you think, master" He said after returning to their room.<em>

"_What do you mean?" She asked warily, but she couldn't hide the hopeful quality of her tone._

"_They call you the Zero, right?" her expression darkened a bit before nodding "That's actually a compliment."_

"_Huh?" Was her confused response. __**How could that cursed name be a compliment!**__ She thought angrily._

_He seemed to feel her distress and smile at her, successfully calming her a little "Number zero…." He started "its empty."_

_The simplicity of the statement left her with her mouth hanging open. She narrowed her eyes but was promptly interrupted before she could answer back._

"_But in its emptiness, it holds infinite possibilities." He finally revealed with a beaming smile "Making only the zero capable of reaching the pinnacle of existence."_

"_Keep that name close to your heart master, for in your biggest weakness lies your greatest strength."_

* * *

><p>And thanks to him saying those words, sleep avoided her. Stupid know-it-all familiar…<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes: This chapter was a bit trickier than the first, but still very fun to write. Now here is where the story gets a little more interesting while dabbling a bit into the AU world. Nothing Extreme though, just some plausible additions given Dirian´s background and FoZ own rules. Hope you enjoyed &amp; Thanks For Reading!<strong>


	4. Memories: Of Promises and growth

My first fan fiction history, hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it.

Constructive criticism accepted & welcomed, everything that makes us better will always be received with open arms.

Normal writing - Fun

Dreams, flashbacks, Whispers - _Chuck Norris eats pasta_

Thoughts, spells - Monkey magic

I do not own the familiar of zero franchise nor Dwarf Fortress.

* * *

><p><em>The smell of roasted boar was strong in the air, and accompanied with a fine dwarven wine Dirian was having his best dinner since leaving SnackTest.<em>

_He thought about all that he had accomplished in the past years while giving another generous bite to the roasted wild boar´s leg._

_His stay with the guards ended with the death of the veteran captain after a particularly harsh case of pneumonia._

_The old man didn't even flinch in the face of death; he just kept smirking and joking about his situation until the end. Dirian´s admiration for the deceased guard just kept rising with each passing day of his illness, always unbreakable and unreachable, even in his last words._

"_It's about time you go bother some else with your presence rrian(Dog)," He said between coughs "I am sure the forests critters would be delighted with your visit." _

_Dirian didn't cry, he just nodded at his father figure disguised advice, he wouldn't accept anything else._

_The little fighter grasp for emotions was improving a bit with the past of time, even allowing him to show proper smiles instead of the ghostly smirks he had used until then. Although he found it ironic that the death of the guard marked the day he started to smile._

_He promised himself he was going to kept smiling for the rest of his life, even in the direr of situations and in the face of the god of death itself, that way he could proudly greet his surrogate father in the afterlife with a smile and declare that he lived a good life, not tainted by the pain and blood of others._

_Dirian threw the leftovers of his meal into the fire and reached for his blade and shield. He softly passed a hand against the cold steel while watching his reflection in the metal; he was greeted by a smiling face._

_**Maybe it's time I start tracking those black bears… winter gets very cold around here after all.**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author Notes:<strong>_**Memories are fun to write, lol. Simple & short its always easy. The next memories chapter will be exponentialy longer, just in case you´re wondering if the chapters are going to be this short.  
><strong>


	5. Through the Eyes of Reason III

My first fan fiction history, hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it.

Constructive criticism accepted & welcomed, everything that makes us better will always be received with open arms.

Normal writing - Fun

_Dreams, flashbacks, Whispers_ - _Chuck Norris eats pasta_

**Thoughts, spells** – 'Monkey magic'

I do not own the familiar of zero franchise nor Dwarf Fortress.

* * *

><p><em>An endless sea of white, the gentle touch of the falling snow grazing my body, the contraction of my muscles under a second skin of metal in the cold morning air; all was quiet in the remote fortress of 'frozencannon'. But that silence only helped to further strain my nerves into activity, and considering the lack of the usual wandering deer's and happily singing morning birds, I felt it was quite a justified response.<em>

_I knew something was going to happen soon; even the usually stoic dwarven vanguard, the best warriors of the fortress, looked nervous and fidgety inside their compact shells of steel._

'_**Not that I blame them,' **__I thought with a weak smile. '__**This is going to be a long day.'**_

_I steeled my resolve and returned to my smiling visage,__** 'what are you planning this time? ' **__I asked the morning air rhetorically inside my mind._

_He was brought out of his musing by his second in command, a merry bulky dwarf called luckless, redheaded and sporting an elaborated style of braids in his hair; he had a strong love for ale and battle, always the firsts to make inappropriate jokes in the fortress dining table; although he lacked his usual happy demeanor at the moment. _

_It was a pity considering the wonders some good humor could´ve done for morale, it wasn't for lack of trying though, but my smiles only seem to perturb my fellow soldiers._

"_The men are worried, Dirian," He told me while still looking at the limitless carpet of white that surrounded the fort. As the now temporal commander of the alliance forces in the norther flank I wondered how the dwarves even managed to survive through this kind of weather every year; I guessed it only served to prove that they were sturdy creatures "Some are even speaking wild tales about vengeful forgotten beasts." _

"_Then the cold is starting to spoil their minds." I replied mirthlessly with the smile still on my face. Luckless shifted his weight from one foot to the other constantly while giving a sideway glance to my face, but still refusing to part his eyes from the horizon._

"_Do you…" he stopped, seemingly trying to figure out how to word his question "Do you think we can win against whatever is out there?" His voiced wavered almost _imperceptibly_ at the end._

"_We have to." I simply said, and no more words were needed. All the of dwarves knew what was at stake, 'frozencannon' was the only piece of land connecting the main continent with the aquamarine land; the natural choke point was the perfect position to defend against any invasion towards the mountain homes, the majestic city carved in the stone, and home to most of the dwarf population and their culture._

_Luckless stayed quiet after that, as did the rest of the alliance army. Everything remained tortuously the same until a small tremor made some of the oil lamps shake slightly._

_I regarded the lamps with a suspicious glance, but as the tremors increased in intensity and frequency, some of the soldiers started to scream over the strong winter gale._

"_Look!"_

"_What is that?"_

_A few sparse figures started to appear in the storm and seemed to be moving slowly towards the fort. I at first thought them to be siege towers warily, but the true resulted to be much worse._

"_BRONZE COLOSSUS!" All hell broke loose with that simple exclamation._

_Dozens of soldiers started to run around the fort blindly in their state of panic, while the ones that remained at their post looked paralyzed with fear._

_I laughed out loud at the wit of my enemy. '__**Fear is a great weapon, but bringing forth monsters of legend is truly a perfect way to spread it.'**_

_The massive men of metal were now visible on their unstoppable advance towards the fort. Some as tall as the walls of the fortress, the animated bronze creatures were one of the last remains of the old empire, invulnerable to the elements and strong like a hundred men; they were quite a sight to behold._

"_My brothers!" I shouted at the four winds, effectively stopping most of the rampaging soldiers on their tracks._

"_Today we face beasts worthy of a bard´s tale," I gestured to the approaching titans without much care "But take this as a sign of weakness from our enemies!"_

_I had all of the soldier's attention on me now. '__**Good, at least they are no longer cowering in fear.'**_

"_It has been over nine months since the last time we clashed against a normal human," I smiled at their confused stares "Our enemy is weak, and they can't no longer afford to wage war with us directly, so they send their pets to finish the job."_

_The men exchange looks with one another before looking at me again, this time a little more surely. "Are we going to give them the satisfaction of falling in their absence?"_

_Most of their expressions were changing slowly to anger. "Are we going to cower in fear of meager metal zombies without a will of their own?" _

_Some chants of 'no' could be heard now. "Then stop trembling and show me some fighting spirit!"_

_A huge roar could be heard from the army all around the fort. "What are we waiting for then? Catapults and archers, Fire!"_

_An immense rain of debris, burning arrows, and explosives flied towards the golems, painting the night red and creating an orchestra of chaos upon impact._

_As expected, most of the creatures were unharmed after the attack, but some, mostly the ones unlucky enough to be hit by a dwarven powder bomb, were now lacking a limb or crawling in the floor. That would have to do, we only had enough for a single volley; the lack of supplies made using catapults an expensive luxury, although a vital one._

_The attackers finally reached the fortress walking through the rain of arrows unfazed, and immediately small earthquakes started to shake the structure. The booming sound of the huge metal constructions crashing against the walls of the fort resounded in the air._

_Some of the bravest soldiers were already striking the heads of the golems that were tall enough to surpass the wall´s height; although most of them were crushed or slapped out of the walls by the monsters. '__**You will be remembered,' **__I thought while taking out my shield and sword, my smile still present._

_When the firsts of the colossus breached the wall I didn't hesitated to run towards it with a battle cry that filled the night sky "CHARGE!"_

* * *

><p>I opened my eyes to find my little master looking at me with a worried expression, 'J<strong>ust<strong> a** dream,' **I realized upon seeing her face. The feeble rays of light leaking through the window told me that it was close to sunrise.

"Are you alright, Dirian?" Despite my dizziness, I didn't miss neither the use of my name nor the worried tint behind the question. It looked like the fight had changed the light in which she saw me in more than one way; I will definitely not be missing the whole commoner name calling.

"Yes… just an old memory," My reassuring smile seemed to calm her worries. "How did you sleep?" I asked upon seeing her disheveled style.

"I didn't." Her narrowed eyes told me all I needed to know. I chuckled at her predicament; it was technically her fault for being so easily impressionable.

"Sorry about that, I needed some time to put my thoughts together." I told her honestly; yesterday´s discoveries were still swimming in my mind and I needed time to reflect upon them.

"So, can we talk about it now?" '**That hopeful tone again.'** how could I refuse against that?

'_**You always were weak against a damsel´s eyes**_**,' **reminded me my mind, I just mentally flipped myself the bird, the universal sign of '_Go fuck yourself'_.

"Sure, ask away, Master." I shifted to a more comfortable position and waited for the incoming barrage with an encouraging smile.

She got into a sitting position on her bed and pushed some wild locks of pink hair out of her face with a puff.

"How did you beat Guiche," '**That's not really the question you want to make' **her pink eyes shone with indecisiveness while she stared at me** "**Was it really thanks to the sword as he said?" '**There it is, how predictable**.'

"As for how I beat him," I paused dramatically "I punched him in the face," I couldn't resist an amused smile escaping my lips after looking at her narrowed eyes. "Whether or not I used the sword was unimportant, I was going to win anyways." I shrugged my shoulder dismissing any importance to the loudmouth noble´s defeat.

Her face took a stunned expression for a moment before she shook her head and looked at my eyes again, demanding a serious answer through her stare.

'**It's impressive how well she can communicate without words,' **I laughed a bit before turning to a slightly more professional tone.

"He underestimated my abilities, I could have probably ripped his golems apart with my bare hands alone," Her face betrayed her incredulity at my statement. "Besides; he was a babbling weakling AND an unfaithful dog at that." Those were my honest thoughts about him.

She chuckle cutely at that, her pink hair moving with every motion; I liked the sound of her melodic laugh, innocent and devoid of the taint of angst.

"Will I ever be able to get a serious answer out of you?" She asked with an adorable pout.

"I don't think so." I shook my head with mock regret. Her face changed once more to an expression more fitting of her curious demeanor.

"And what about that other thing you mentioned last night," Once again the hopeful quality of her voice betrayed her curiosity, but the eager look on her face told of much deeper anxieties respecting my words. "About my greatest strength?"

I took a moment to remember the minutes after the duel at the vestry, and the amazing realization I reached.

* * *

><p><em>Dirian glanced at the twin moons above in the great darkness of the night sky before sighing softly. He lifted his left hand to look at the object of his interest, and wondered just what had he gotten himself into, again.<em>

_When he reached for tabitha´s ice sword after the fight, Dirian took a moment to concentrate in the itch at the back of his mind present only while grabbing the weapon; the feeling seemed to be in apparent synch with the blue light emitted by the runes on his hand._

_Just as he thought, the ethereal library opened-but only partially. Further probing at the alien feeling only resulted in a slight headache. He decided to try one last thing before giving the weapon away._

_He now knew for sure that trying to pry information from the illusive library in his mind by force was futile, but he wondered what would happen if he used a more subtle approach._

'_**What are you?' **__He let the thought float freely in his mind, almost imagining the echo produced by the idea crashing in the abyss of his brain. The idiocy of talking to himself left him with no doubt that whatever ailment was impairing the noble´s abilities to think had jumped on him while he was kicking the shit out of one._

'_**Gandalfr' **__Came the unexpected answer in the form of a ghostly whisper._

_Outwardly, he was only a few steps away from the blue haired mage while he carried himself with a calm expression; inwardly, his mind was running at full throttle at this new discovery._

_Counting the seconds he had left with the presence in his mind, he did the first relevant question that came to his mind._

'_**Why do you exist?'**__ Dirian was after all more curious about the existence of such a being than its purpose; he already had a vague idea of the library´s functions anyways._

_Silence was his answer, he was already handing the sword back when he heard the faintest of whispers, '__**To protect the void mage.**__' The statement was all the information he needed to complete the puzzle._

_He theorized that him, or more specifically Gandalfr, was mean to possess super human powers and weapon´s knowledge far superior to that of what any warrior could achieve in single lifetime of training; all for the sole purpose of protecting the 'void mage', said mage´s identity was already obvious to him._

_Louise seem to be ignorant about the existence of such a pact of mutual cooperation, and his sole presence as the only human familiar told him it was most probably not a common thing._

_He gave some vague praise to the blue haired mage and exchanged names with her, never stopping to keep occupied the inside of his mind with thinking about the paradox that was his summoning._

_If he followed his earlier line of thought while punching the blond mage, the weapon, in this case himself, can only be as strong as its wielder; making his master an incredible force to be reckoned with, if the same law applied to the current case, of course. _

_He decided to further investigate this 'Gandalfr' entity after dealing with the pinkette´s worries. His master took precedence, and he apparently needed to be holding a weapon to even reach the being._

_**'Today was very fruitful'. **__Dirian thought while making his way to his master._

* * *

><p>He briefly debated whether or not to inform his master about the unique quality of their bond. On one side, if he saved the information for himself he could probably exploit it to change future events to his benefit, and it would save him having to explain his belief of her being some kind of super mage; the opportunist in him wanted nothing more than to gain something in exchange for his fealty, something she took as a given fact.<p>

On the other hand, he owed her for saving him from certain death and providing him with a new goal in his life, and there too was the thing about her growing on him. His honor encouraged him to help her in any way that he could.

He wondered once again about his reasons for accepting the young´s mage proposal of servitude with such ease. His mind only showed him the first memory he had of her face: set in an angry scowl and with those strangely familiar eyes.

'**Oh.' **The realization came to him unexpectedly and hit him like a battlehammer to the face; the look on her eyes is something he saw every time he watched his own reflection.

'_**Stubborn determination and the desire to be someone in life, the drive of the hard-headed and foolish.**_' He repeated the long forgotten words of his surrogate father in his head.

"Well?" Asked an impatient Louise, only then he noticed for how long he had been zoning out.

Dirian just stared dumbly at her for while before shrugging.

"Nothing much, just the fact you´re something called a void mage." He said waving his hand in a dismissive manner.

"Oh… WHAT!"

* * *

><p>The conversation following his not all too subtle revelation showed to be quite enlightening for Dirian, finally shedding some light into the mechanics of magic in this world.<p>

Apparently, there were five main elements to be controlled, and the mage´s power was determined by the number of elements they could control at the same time or pile over each other; these elements were fire, water, earth, air and cryptically enough—void.

Void mages apparently were as common as finding Armok´s bloody underwear in the wilderness, the last one supposedly dying thousands of years ago; this made one wonder why did they even put void in between the main elements if nobody was able to use it. At least it proved that Louise was a mighty mage, somewhat inflating his ego at being right.

The local noble´s alignment with idiocy and redundancy while setting the foundations of this world never ceased to impress him, not that he expected much from nobles anyways; repressive assholes back home, retarded assholes here.

After his little master finally finished her explanation of the elements to him, which she did all in one breath, she entered some kind shock induced trance while still standing and carrying a quite disturbing smile on her face.

"Um… are you alright, master?" He asked with reluctance, fearing that maybe she burned something important up there with all the commotion.

"Huh?" When she finally snapped from whatever daydreaming she was having, the first thing she did was to look into his eyes with fiery determination.

"How do you know I am a void mage?" She demanded, **'Maybe telling her wasn't such a good idea.'**

"A voice in my head told me." He declared with a smile.

"…" Her silence spoke volumes.

"…" Dirian was kicking himself inside his head for his smooth wording; he was on a roll today.

Her feline growl only served to make him even more nervous; he suspected her to be prone to physical violence, and any self respected Tihronian knew how dangerous women with a purpose were, dwarven sexism at inventing such a saying aside.

"I am telling the true," He said somewhat offended. "The voice called himself 'Gandalfr'."

"Gandalfr, is that some kind of cheese?" The confusion was palpable in her pink eyes.

"I honestly doubt it," '**Cheese, really?' **"I believe is more on the side of ancient sentient being than dairy products, master."

"And this Gandalfr," she started with obvious disbelief "is inside your head?"

'**What is with people thinking me crazy these days?'** He sighted at the tiring times to come.

* * *

><p>It took Dirian some time to explain his encounter with the ghostly being to his master, but by the beginning of the evening, and many cups of tea later, he finally managed to make her believe, if somewhat warily, in his logical deductions about the runes and the nature of their contract.<p>

To say she was surprised was an understatement, she even spat some of the tea on shock when Dirian told her about the law of the weapon and the wielder, which in his humble opinion made her really mythical; it was then that Louise found out about her familiar´s massive ego.

He promised to inform her in the future about any further discovery he made, he simply couldn't resist her pout´s power. But his dabbling in the matter would have to wait until he managed to get a weapon to access the ethereal library with, something his little master took into her own hands to solve.

* * *

><p>He used the rest of the day to search for this 'Professor Colbert' Tabitha mentioned, once again remembering his quest for literate research.<p>

It took him some time, but after talking, or more like intimidating with his presence, a few wandering students, he found out the whereabouts of the elusive teacher. On another note, his new found ability to literally make the nobles shake like elven jelly was most amusing. He was used to admiration and respect, but causing terror with his presence was always nice.

* * *

><p>Many brightly colored concoctions in different stages of making, dozens of weary books and the myriad of smells surrounding the room; all of this made the alchemical laboratory quite a curious place for Dirian, and the bald man in blue robes looking over some potions while eventually scrabbling on a piece of paper helped in creating quite an exotic scene for the world traveler.<p>

"Greetings," His childish smile went down a few notches after noticing the identity of the man "Oh."

The man returned his gaze with apprehension upon noticing him, equally bothered by the other´s presence. **'Of all the people…'**

"Ms. Vallière familiar, is it?" He emphasized his lack of joy for seeing his person with a sigh. The middle aged mage reached for his glasses on the table before looking at him directly with a resigned face.

"Indeed, I am ," The mage´s reaction was to be expected; after all, dangerous animals can easily recognize others of their kind. "I take it you´re Professor Colbert?" His answer came in the form of a nod.

"What do you need of me?" Colbert asked while going back to writing on his little piece of paper.

"A proposition." This man didn't like him, and the sentiment was mutual, so there was no need to beat around the bush.

"Is that so," Colbert finally tore his gaze from the paper to look with narrowed eyes at Dirian "And what does such a blood stained soul needs with me?"

"Something only another equally monstrous person can provide," He smiled and lifted his hands in a sign of peace. "Understanding."

That took Colbert by surprise, but his expression quickly turned back to normal, a little more calmer this time, if still quite sharp.

"Speak then." Dirian grinned victoriously at catching the man interest; such men were always easily influenced by their obsessions, in this case knowledge; he knew it because he shared the same chains.

"I need to learn your written language." No motives, just simple facts.

"And what do you offer in return?" Information was something he had in great measure, even by scholar´s standards.

"Knowledge of my home world." He used his upper card without hesitation, Colbert was already in his hands-he just didn't know it.

They stared into each other´s eyes for a long while, both men trying to size the other up.

When Colbert let a smirk escape his lips Dirian´s own just widened.

* * *

><p>Dirian was walking through the corridors of the academy with a triumphal air that night, his childish smile at full force. Not even the many nobles dropping their books and going still in shock whenever he passed by them managed to sour his mood, exaggerated as they were.<p>

After Colbert accepted his offer, Dirian brought up his discovery about the Gandalfr´s runes, as Colbert identified them to be, in some sort of grateful extra towards the veteran mage; that big was his happiness at finally having a chance to read to his heart content.

Colbert proved once more to be a good trust investment after showing him the arcane tattoo; he displayed that he was very knowledgeable in that particular field when he was instantly interested in the runes and described them to be very ancient.

He even exposed his interest to team up with Dirian in case he ever intended to study the secrets of the mark; the concepts of the ethereal library seem to raise his enthusiasm through the ceiling.

* * *

><p>When Dirian sensed someone sneaking up behind him; his patience for the nobles ran out and he turned around to give the little spoiled brats with stalker tendencies a piece of his mind.<p>

When he didn't see anyone in the hallway his confusion made him scratch his head, making it even more surprising when something grabbed him by the feet and started dragging him away.

The only clue he got of his assailant identity was an incredible wave of heat and one wobbling flaming tail.

'**A salamander?'**

* * *

><p>Just went Dirian was about break the fire creature jaws for the insolence of dragging him around half of the castle floor, probably making Siesta´s and her fellow castle keepers job easier that day, his foot was released from its fiery mouth.<p>

"Good job, Flame." As he got to his feet, he looked around to find himself in a very peculiar place.

The walls and floor were covered by linen and silk painted in exquisite colors, creating an aura of mischievousness magnified by the smell of roses and the candles serving as only source of illumination in the room.

He finally noticed the king sized bed, along with a gorgeous redhead spread out in a seductive pose over it, dressed into practically nothing with only a couple of purple undergarments covering her modesty. Her brown eyes were eating him up, while Dirian´s own never left her huge boobs; it was a known fact through the land of Tihronea that Dirian was the owner of a little, if very famous, obsession with breasts.

"**That's some impressive malin (Breasts)." **He used most of his superhuman willpower to change the course of his sight towards her face, an action she seemed amused by.

"There´s not need to force yourself, darling," She purred while shifting her legs "You can watch **all** you want."

The stunning she-demon resulted strangely familiar to him; he realized that she formed part of the initial summoning ritual group, as he remembered her voice to be one of the most consisting in taunting Louise. He kept his expression neutral despite his slight dislike for the mocking of his master.

"My name is Kirche '_the Ardent'," _she stood up from the bed with an elegant stride "But I became full of passion after seeing you, darling, so you may call me '_The Passion'" _He snorted mentally at that one.

If there is one thing Dirian had in common with his little master, it is that he never liked to lose control over any situation.

"Greetings, Malin Flir (Breast girl)," He said, his smile morphing into a smirk. "What do I owe the pleasure of this invitation?"

"But **Darling**, you must already know what I want." She slowly crawled on all four towards him with animal agility.

"Such a marvelous thing hidden by those common rags," The seductress pressed his body between her´s and the wall, cutting the distance separating their faces with each passing second. "But I can see it, even if others don't."

"And what do you see?" His expression mimicking hers, Dirian closed the distance even more.

"A diamond in brute, just waiting to let its passion out," Their faces were almost touching now, and her breath was clouding his senses. "All you need is a true woman."

'**A true woman.' **Dirian thought back to the memories he had about all of the women in his life, from the gruff attitude of the farmer girls in his hometown; to the rogue personalities of the merchant caravaniers in the roads; the unbreakable respect of the female knights in the army ranks and finally to all of those brave hearted souls that chose following him in his mad adventures. Not even one of them had achieved such a degree of respect on his part on such a short amount time as his young master, not had any of them possesed any quality that made him think of himself or his past as much as her.

But the most important part was not his own opinion of her, but the duty demanded by his oath upon its creation—staying by her side, forever.

"A tenting offer," He admitted with a sly expression; she closed her eyes in wait for his lips to touch hers, but the moment never came. "But I must refuse."

Her eyes opened to see not his lips touching her own, like she had believed would happen, but the tip of his finger. He was smiling gently at her all the while.

"I already have a worthy, if small woman in my life." He declared with a small chuckle.

Whatever response she was going to give was cut off by the door slamming open, followed by the theatrical entrance of his little master into the heated scene.

'**Speaking of the kobold.'**

"Zerbts! Give me back my familiar!" Louise´s hair was all messy and she was sporting an angry red on her cheeks, probably because of her running all the way here.

"Thanks for the timely rescue, master!" Dirian took his chance and jumped out of the grasp of the horny Germanian.

"Vallière, how distasteful to see you." Her disappointed face made Dirian fear future attempts against him, not that he minded much seeing those malins often.

"It's so like you to kidnap someone´s else familiar." Louise´s tone was venomous while regarding the redhead.

"Kidnap him? I was just trying to show him what being with a true woman was like." She told Louise with a smirk.

"In my defense, I refused." Dirian said while slowly making his way to the door.

"But only because you´re forced to, darling." If possible Louise face got even redder with anger.

"How dare you to try to seduce him!"

"With this, obviously," She said gesturing to her well proportionate bust. "Something you obviously lack."

"I… I don't …" Her afflicted voice was ammunition for the other female´s counter-attack, so Dirian just grabbed his young protégée and ran out of the room at cruiser speed before the fight could escalate in intensity; leaving a confused AND horny redhead behind.

* * *

><p>"That's was close." Dirian sighted in relief letting his back press against the wall.<p>

At his side Louise was blushing madly, her mind still trying to process his actions.

"You really need to watch what you say, master," She heard him say in a reproachful tone. "She was about to say something smart, at least in her mind."

"Sorry…" Her sudden apology seemed to stop him in his tracks.

"About what?" He asked confused, he doubted anyone ever considered his advices seriously, given their usual mocking manner.

"You must´ve wanted to stay with Zerbts, just like all the other men want to." The sadness dripping from her comment made Dirian frown.

'**So the bust thing is a touchy subject; surely her breasts are going to grow in the future' **he thought, but after looking at the plainness of her assets he lost confidence.** 'Must limit my boob obsession to avoid future dilemmas.' **

"Hey, don't worry. I wasn't going anywhere with that crazy succubus." He reassured her with a gentle pat on the head.

"Really?" She glanced pitifully at his eyes.

"Really," He smiled again, taking care of remembering her saddened expression, even if only to make sure it never surged again. "I told her I already had great woman in my life."

"Huh?" The feelings of betrayal in her face were obvious. "I-is that s-so?"

"Aye," He stared directly at her eyes with his ever present trademark. "My beautiful, pink rose." He emphasized his comment with a gentle poke to her stomach.

'_**That sounded surprisingly similar to one of the loudmouth blonde´s phrases.' **_He mentally grunted his reluctant agreement with his subconscious.

Her expression froze in realization, and she just stared at his face incredulously.

He chuckled softly and resumed walking towards their room, his little master in tow.

* * *

><p>The rest of the week turned to be very productive for Dirian, making some progress with his learning of the Halkegenian tongue and sharing tales of his world with Colbert in the morning; after a few sessions their differences started blunt, making the whole experience something enjoyable, considering their similar way of thinking.<p>

"_Ahto menfler corbits perteste?" _

"Yes, that's it," told him a pleased Colbert. "Your rate of learning is truly astonishing for a first timer." He never really told Colbert about the translation spell, seeing no relevance in it.

"What can I say, I am just that good." Was his comeback along with a Cheshire smile.

"Don't get all proud now, even a child could´ve read that."

'_**He´s a fool.' **_Rare were the times when he conceded a point to his inner voice **'I heartily agree.'**

Dirian also made a habit of training as much as he could in a nearby forest while Louise attended to her classes; his current state was sadly not even close to the peak of his abilities.

Many were the rumors started by the student body about the broken trees and mysterious patterns carved into the forest floor; the vengeful spirit of an elf being the less face palm inducing one.

He doubted he were the first individual to notice the lack of neurons and proper analytical abilities on the children of noble birth, someone just had to notice such a big blunder before, but he still decided to name the condition '_The noble goblin syndrome', _honoring the memory of the most idiotic creature he knew.

He only hoped that this particularly grave disease (deathly if the conditions were met, like by example boasting about their noble inheritance in front of a particularly murder-prone commoner), started to fade away with age and the gain of wisdom; otherwise this country was doomed to self-induced extinction in the near future.

Another interesting addition to his daily agenda was the sharing of a cup of tea with Louise in the evening; they would use this time to fill each other with the day´s eventualities, usually sharing a few good laughs about especially peculiar events.

He found out this practice served him to forget about his past and present problems, granting him his first relaxed days of leisure since the beginning of the great Xaldrian war.

Dirian had to wonder how such a trivial development managed to wash all of his worries away; he related it either to the pleasant company that the pinkette represented or to a certain maid with black hair drugging his drink with strange beverages while he wasn't looking, although he admittedly had his doubts about the later.

And that's how Dirian´s peaceful days started.

* * *

><p>'<strong>I have a bad feeling about this.'<strong>

Although Dirian hated to repeat himself, he couldn't avoid the feeling of dread currently seeping into him.

One particular morning, he had decided to come along with his little master into class, just to see what it was all about, after all, he was somewhat curious about the lack of information Louise gave him about the classes themselves during their tea time.

It all started without anything worthy of much interest happening, aside from the lustful gaze of Kirche in his general direction, which he conveniently chose to ignore, and the mayor commotion that started when little Louise was called to demonstrate a simple looking transmutation spell.

The working of the spell itself was incredibly interesting to Dirian, given the possibilities of transforming seemingly useless materials into more combat resilient ones; but the true mysteries were all the students suddenly taking shelter under their desks and the protesting Kirche. He truly started to get worried though when Tabitha, which seemed to sit close to the promiscuous germanian, suddenly stood up and promptly left the room, followed closely by say redhead.

And that's when Dirian´s over-developed survival instinct started to scream in alert; something bad was going to happen soon.

Louise repeated the teacher´s instructions and casted the spell with practiced easy, only for the small copper chip that she was mean to transmute to blow up with the strength of a dragon´s breath, resulting shock wave throwing everybody in the room a few meters back, luckily for him he had decided to follow his instincts seconds before and took cover behind a conveniently placed wall of flesh (noble) close by.

"Wow…" was his only coherent thought.

Louise resignedly dusted herself before going back to her seat with a dejected expression.

"_**I think I now know where her title comes from." **_Zero ability to cast magic. "**Aye."**

"Um, that was an interesting show of power." Her narrowed eyes warned him to watch his mouth.

"I mean, if you wanted to stop a squadron of armed men that would be quite a useful spell to have." He told her with a weak smile.

"Admit it; you think I am a failure." Her downcast eyes caused Dirian to feel a little sting in his chest, although the reason eluded him.

"Not at all, my lady," He told her with as much sincerity as he could muster. "I believe you are the most admirable mage I have met in this place." She blushed slightly at the praise, but still remained silent.

"Just for the sake of curiosity, does this happen every time with all the spells you have tried?" Her nod made his mind wonder a particular possibility.

"Thinking back to what I said before, maybe you´re mean for magic of destructive nature, and not simple spells." He shrugged to show it was only a hypothesis, but her expression became a little livelier after that.

* * *

><p>One morning Louise finally decided to attend the issue of arming me, both for defense and to gain further access into the ethereal library.<p>

We departed from the Academy early in the morning by horseback and were headed, by the young mage´s description, to a small trading village close by.

Her definition of small village differed greatly from mine, taking all of the houses, buildings and merchants littering the busy streets of the town.

We found what we were looking for after a while of wandering in the sea of people; a blacksmith shop.

As I entered the establishment I immediately started to scan all the weapons hanging from the walls and in the many shelves on the other side of the store, separating them in quality, weight and practical use with critical eye.

It wasn't long before the store clerk came by to the front, obviously attracted by the sound of a full purse. He showed to be inclined to rip my little master off of her money with expensive pieces of decoration, worthy of a rich´s man collection and not of the battlefield.

He didn't seem to appreciate my observations about him not knowing much about his trade if he really thought that about those pieces of junk.

"Fine, if you think you can do better than me, please do so." I smiled with an affirmative nod showing my agreement, further infuriating the man.

Most of the weapons seemed to lose their attractive after closer inspection, showing imperfections or being over priced, but years of experience in dealing with the tools of killing made him concentrate in a lone barrel in particular, where a rusty two handed sword rested without any metallic companion.

I grabbed the pommel of the weapon and lifted it in the air, finding it to be surprisingly light despite its looks. I did a few practice swings to test the aerodynamics of the metal.

'**Good grab,'**

'**Comfortable weight'**

'**Perfect balancing,'**

'**And pretty sharp." **I finally thought after testing its sharpness with the tip of my finger, and smiling at the minute flow of blood that started just after grazing the sword.

"I think I like this one." I told the shopkeeper with a childish laugh.

"_You have a fine eye for quality, partner." _A male sounding voice came from the sword´s handle.

"…" '**Did the sword…'**

"Did that sword just talked?" Louise completed my thoughts about the strange weapon with an equally bewildered look.

Strangely enough, the clerk just groaned after seeing the weapon and started rubbing his head.

"Just take the goddamn sword, its more trouble than it's worth."

* * *

><p>"So, Mr. Sword," I started "Do you have a name?"<p>

"Aye, I sure do, partner," It said in his peculiar voice, at least I assumed it was a 'he' "Derflinger´s the name."

"I see…" A smile starting to show on my face at the possibilities this presented.

"I must say Derflinger that you are the most impressive being I have met in a long time, and a fine sword to boot." I was somehow stretching the true with the first statement, but he didn't need to know that.

"That I have been told, partner." He did some strange sound with his mouth (handle) which I assumed equaled to a laugh.

"Could you please stop talking to that rusty sword?" Screamed a frustrated Louise; it obviously looked like the craziness of the situation at finally gotten to her.

"Watch what you´re saying little girl; I am the legendary 6000 years old sword Derflinger." My eyebrows rose quite a bit at the declaration, I marveled at the amount of combat experience a six millennia´s old sword could offer.

"Don't try me, you rusty piece of trash!"

And so Dirian´s days of peace ended, again.

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes: I really hope you are starting to get the idea of his ever-smiling attitude, ´cuz writting it its starting to get tiresome, if still incredible amusing.<strong> _**Thanks for reading!**_


	6. Through the Eyes of Reason IV

My first fan fiction history, hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it.

Constructive criticism accepted & welcomed, everything that makes us better will always be received with open arms.

Normal writing - Fun

_Dreams, flashbacks, Whispers_ - _Chuck Norris eats pasta_

**Thoughts, spells** – 'Monkey magic'

I do not own the familiar of zero franchise nor Dwarf Fortress.

* * *

><p>"<em>Um,<em> _Partner?" _A little motion to the right.

"Yes, Delfy?" Another motion to the left.

"_Care to explain to me why are we doing this again?_" Dirian made one more deft motion with his hand and a few black strands fell to the floor over the growing pile of their kind.

He was currently outside over one of the many fountains in the academy´s courtyard. A few pieces of cloth and a small jar of oil he was using to lubricate his face laying close beside him; the sun would be coming out soon, he noticed, but for now his only source of light was the azure shade of the early morning and the erratic fire of a nearby lamp.

"Why, of course, because the lady said so," He waved Derflinger around mockingly to put more weight behind the statement, or maybe just to piss him off. "And making her mad would hurt my poor, gentle heart."

"_I mean why you are using ME as a shaving knife." _Complained the offended sword with righteous annoyance in his awkward voice.

The whole shaving deal started when Louise reprimanded him the day before for his lack of care to his appearance just after returning from their short trip, and he even agreed with her; the only reason because he hadn't already gotten to it earlier was that his mind was busy with more important matters, but now that he had some free time there was no excuse for drawing out the inevitable. If there was no way around cutting his hair, he would rather do it himself.

"Because you are the closest thing nearby that resembles one," Dirian could swear he saw his handle form some kind of frown, he never knew weapons could grow indignant. "And you did say you were the sword that could do anything!" He flashed his new metallic companion a toothy grin with his half shaved, oiled face.

"_I am sure you knew I didn't mean it that way." _Despite his lack of amusement with his new owner uses for a sword of legends, Derflinger had to admit his childish and goofy nature was refreshing from the usually stuck up nobles that had brandished him before through his long existence. He had been somewhat resilient to the idea of being carried around by such a shady individual at first, but the rest of the day showed to be quite entertaining for the metallic old timer; he was so far enjoying his time making fun of his newest master´s charge, because really, it was just too amusing to see her jump around like some kind of inbreed between a rabid manticore and a wild bunny at his comments about her many singularities. An added bonus to Derflinger was the fact that he was obviously in the hands of a trained user of the martial arts. It was a simple thing to notice for a being with so much experience as him by the way that jester carried himself. An aura of perpetual wariness and twitching reflexes under a questionable façade of smiles was all the proof he needed to know the man didn't liked to let his guard down, maybe even bordering in paranoia. But Derflinger didn't mind much, it wouldn't be the first time one of his carriers proved to be an unique individual, and the weird ones always turned out to be more fun anyways.

"Just be grateful I don't like rusty flavors, Delfy, otherwise I would be making dinner with you." A final sweep over his left cheek and the scar that served as one of his most recognizable features was completely visible, leaving his face clean of that nasty beard; He didn't had anything against the whole 'Lone renegade' style, but he welcomed the change nonetheless.

"_Real cute, partner, can we go now?" _Dirian didn't even answer him before starting to cut stray sections of hair from the top of his head; he wanted to be done with it before dawn to grant his little master quite the surprise.

"_Gentle heart my pommel…"_ The sword grew silent after noticing Dirian wasn't really paying attention to him anymore; he couldn't tell whether it was from either great concentration or just bad-manners, but it was annoying him to no end.

As more and more strands of hair fell to the floor, his features became more apparent and less intimidating; he put special care in the space over his forehead to reveal his greenish eyes to the world, making creating smiles more convincing and less creepy to be a simpler endeavor. At least now he hoped not to be mistaken for a caveman like that time when he came out of his last period of hermitage a few years ago; the sky-high confidence he prided himself in suffered a little chip that day, and so did his adamant belief in togas being the latest expression of fashion in the barbarian lands.

He was at the moment trying to imitate a style he usually saw the people of Farrunia—the fabled city of gold, use out in the summer; short but classy, and an even more important perk was that it gave him a wide margin of time before having to worry about anything hair related again.

He chuckled at his work while checking the sides of his head for any missing spot in the reflection of the fountain´s water; he looked like one of those rich aristocrats in the capital. He couldn't resist pointing his nose a bit upward to imitate the nobles of his former home.

"What are you looking at, plebian?" He used his most egocentric and spoiled tone against his own reflection while doing a perfect mimic of their mannerism; he had to learn something from them after listening to their idiocy for so long.

He tried imagining himself in one of the famous high class balls, talking around with his equally spoiled comrades while disregarding the servants offering them fine dishes with a dignified sneer.

The resulting attack of laughter prompted by the mental parody of the Xaldrian finests left him rolling around in the floor, Derflinger dangerously still in hand. He dried a few tears of amusement off his eyes with the sleeve of his soon to be burned shirt after finally regaining his bearings, although the smile on his face remained glued in place.

He was impressed with how much he had changed since coming to this land, the simple action of laughing without a care in the world just seemed so foreign to him, no, even being able to walk without constantly looking over his shoulder for assassins and possible threats was incredible, not that he didn't do it from time to time here out of mere habit.

He guessed he simply was too used to his old lifestyle to just let it go; this world had its dangers too, they just were more obvious. Back in Tihronea it was completely normal to be walking in the tranquil wilderness and be attacked by a giant carnivorous flower trying to get a taste of your face. With danger hiding under every rock and behind every corner, getting distracted would most probably be your last mistake in the living world. Dirian could actually picture with some dark humor in his mind the hordes of confused wraiths just wondering how the hell they even meet their end.

But that was then, now he had a new home and nobler purpose to live for. He grinned at the irony of life before dusting himself of any remaining hair.

Sheathing Derflinger back into his scabbard, he began his walk to Louise´s room, whistling all the way there out of content.

* * *

><p>Louise was peacefully traveling through dreamland when a soft knocking sound made her stir in her bed, she mumbled some cute nonsense's of offensive nature towards the disturbance before shifting to a more comfortable position. She stirred again when the sound of drawers being opened came from her left; she just chose to ignore it for the sake of laziness.<p>

"_Little lady…"_ A whisper close to her face made her mumble again, but she stood strong against the annoying voice, the bed felt too good to move away from it.

"_It's time to wake up, sun´s up." _The voice now came accompanied by a gentle nudging to her side, threatening to rid her from the beautiful world that was her dreams.

Her dream about lashing all the people that had humiliated her before while cackling madly inside a powerful orb of void powers was already fading away to be replaced by silent unconformity. She liked that dream.

"_You´re going to miss the first class of the week." _Louise resignedly opened her eyes to the harsh morning light, ready to pounce at the source of her displeasure.

Although she expected to come face to face with one of her familiar´s condescending smiles, Louise was chocked out of her usual sleep-induced morning slumber to see a pair of handsome shining, emerald eyes looking at her with mirth; she scanned the stranger´s face quickly in search of any resemblance to her acquaintances, but only one matched with the scarred left cheek.

'**No way.'** This man wasn't anything like the disheveled and dirty clothed carefree buffoon she had grew accustomed to in the past weeks, he could´ve even passed for noble if it wasn't for his lack of proper garments befitting of the high class, but his new outfit suited the image of a rogue knight better, something that looked strangely fitting for him.

She took a long moment to appraise the things Dirian had coerced her into buying after they came out of the blacksmith´s shop with the money she was supposed to spent in arming him, the fact that the annoying rusty sword had cost them nothing was no surprise after all, considering its nature of being… well, annoying. If only she had knew then that Derflinger´s antics were reserved only for her she would´ve been way more against the idea of bringing the pest back to the academy. Louise had to admit she wasn't disappointed with the purchase of the clothes, at least now her protector and/or slave was a more than pleasant sight to the eyes.

Instead of the horrible commoner clothes he had carried with himself until that day, he was now wearing body-tight black leather armor covered in the occasional metal plates protecting the vitals alongside a single shoulder pad on his right side; the material did nothing to hide the incredibly defined muscles under the layer of treated animal skin. His legs showed a similar leather work with plates and greaves protecting the knees and inner thighs, both limbs bulging with obvious extensively trained mass. There were multiple belts and straps all over his form, something he briefly explained served for a versatile use of all manners of tools and gadgets, although she was really more concerned with the greedy look all those merchants were throwing her way during their 'shopping spree' than listening to his reasons for expending even more money. His hands were covered by thick gauntlets that made her shiver at the idea of seeing someone punched by one of those, she was sure Guiche would agreed with her.

The last two additions were a sturdy looking pair of low steel boots, which served like a much more proper footwear in front of those wasted pieces of leather tied by a cord that he insisted in calling sandals, and finally, a red cloak with a representation of the twin moons on the back now covering his body while leaving most of the front exposed, much to Louise´s pleasure.

All in all, although the materials weren't exactly fine or of masterful smiting, the practical vibe they expelled was enough to grant the outfit a positive in the little mage´s mind, and Dirian did make them look really good with that herculean body of his.

While Louise was checking her familiar out, Dirian was completely oblivious to the birth of his newest fan. He had turned his back to her a few moments ago to assemble her clothes for the day; he was currently comparing two almost identical shirts with a thoughtful look on his face.

'**Black with white strips or… black with white lines,' **the lack of variety kind of killed the purpose of having so many apparels, but he saved to comment for himself; considering how sensible nobles were about their clothes, he doubted Louise would take kindly to his 'commoner' mind´s opinions about proper fashion. It was ironic how both barbarians and nobles thought the same of them.

Louise almost fainted when he bent down to check one of the lowers drawers and she was gifted with a privileged view of his backside; her face phased through different tones of red faster than the eye could see while slightly wobbling from side to side in comical resemblance with a pendulum. The closest contact she had with well developed men before were limited to her dad and the servants of the Vallière state, the former being her father, and the laters being looked down upon like living furniture.

'**Oh, Founder!'** Now Louise understood what Zerbst saw in him; her appreciation for the Germanian´s likes went up a few notches after seeing that little piece of heaven he carried on his rear, not that she hated the redhead any less because of it.

Now, while Louise was dealing with her new found obsession for muscular manly behinds, Dirian was having problems with his particular own brand of sin in the other side of the room.

'**I wonder if there is some kind of magic for making malins grow,' **He was handling one of Louise´s small bras while wondering this paradox of utmost importance for the continued existence of mankind, at least it was in his mind.

Dirian shook his head with sadness and got rid of that particular line of thought; he would accept things as they came, disappointing as they were. He stood up with all the clothes Louise would need for her day´s trials in his arms and approached the bed covering his mourning with a grin—albeit a weak one.

"Well, master, I think today is going to be an interesting day," He directed the smile towards his drooling master, finally noticing her faraway look "So stop staring and get to work."

'**It seems like the change was worth it after all.' ** Considering she was ogling him, he thought the new outfit was a success, at least in the looks department.

"Hm?" Louise asked dreamily, only now getting out of her trance; she took notice of the knowing grin on Dirian´s face and this prompted her to start blushing again, this time red enough to make even ripe tomatoes shame themselves with her brilliance.

"I-I u-u-u di-did-didn't a-a-a," Even with his entire mind working on it, Dirian doubted he could have ever decoded that sentence, but the meaning was clear enough to his eyes.

"See something you like?" Even the until now silent Derflinger cackled at her flustered visage, something he would surely pay for later; little Louise was surprisingly cunning about revenge for one so young. Dirian himself experienced some of that particular trait of her when he made an innocent observation about her obscenely cute face in the morning hours; he was still removing some pieces of shrapnel off himself from the explosions that marked that particularly traumatic day.

"I-I didn't mean t-to!" Louise couldn't believe there was someone apart from her family that made her feel some much like a child, but as a noble AND a Vallière she was well versed in this kind of mind game. She had came to discover his weakness by accident a few days ago, and she would be damned if she didn't take advantage of it.

"…Please?" She switched to puppy eyes mode in a nanosecond, effectively hitting Dirian with a critical to his conscience. Her gaze traveled from his face to the clothes on his arms slowly, Dirian didn't needed to be told anything more.

He left the garments on the edge of the bed and walked towards the door; he dedicated a gentle smile her way in apology before closing the door behind him. He dreaded the day she learned about the effectiveness of that technique over the male population as a whole, for that is going to be a very dark day for man, specially for man!

Louise let a breath she didn't knew she was holding escape her lips. She looked at the clothes in her bed for a bit before softly slapping both of her cheeks and beginning her preparations for class. With the pass of the days Dirian was moving farther away in her eyes from the classification of bodyguard and servant towards a more liberal position of confidant and maybe, just maybe, a friend.

'**A real friend,'** she mused with strange conviction, not at all like all those bootlickers that littered around noblesse in search of scraps.

As Louise finished putting on her robes her eyes wandered over some shining little trinket lying under her scarf. As she reached down for whatever it was she was surprised to see a locket. It was more specifically the same silver locket Dirian bought for her the day before with some coins he had won (more like played mind games on the owners) in a clandestine gambling place he had ran into while she shared a few sensitive points (argued) with a vendor about the overprice on silk products. It was polished into the shape of a tear with beautifully made carvings of vines on the sides. She was sure she broke a new mark with her blushing upon seeing a painted pink rose inside of the little clam like device; Louise had not doubt that it wasn't a coincidence, not with the grin he was showing her.

'**An interesting day indeed.' **His accurate words resounded in her head while she clutched the piece of jewelry to her chest.

* * *

><p>'<strong>Calculate ideal angle for maximum cutting effect, add wind resistance, take into account blade´s weight, sharpness, material sturdiness and force to apply to the formula.' <strong>Exactly 37 different aspects were being considered inside of Dirian´s head in a matter of seconds, all of this in preparation for his newest challenge.

His constant visits to the outskirts of the academy for training had become something of a chore since he realized he would need something sharp with what to practice his swordplay with for his skill to rise to acceptable levels; his original reason for punching the trees was naught but forgotten at the idea of releasing stress through violence. But now that he had Derflinger with him he could actually stop fooling around and start his real training without any restrain.

Dirian saved just enough energy on his muscles and shoot forward with a small gust of wind, but an otherwise completely silent attack. His intended target, a tree, was completely oblivious of its incoming demise until it was too late, or maybe it would never know; whether or not plants had a consciousness of their own always troubled Dirian, considering how many of them he had reduced to splinters during his training.

His thoughts about a possible sentient plant apocalypse were swept away in favor of the task at hand. After redoing all the equations in his mind, he prepared for the swing with just a few meters to spare. The slash came with enough force to bisect the trunk from side to side, but the tree remained still for a moment; all sounds in the forest seemed to stop at the show of skill just performed.

Time retook its normal course a few seconds after with the fall of the tree and the return of the cacophony of the forest critters. Dirian approached the results of his deed with a calm pace while resting Derflinger on his shoulders.

"_Nicely done, Partner." _Dirian didn't respond to the praise. He was taking his time analyzing the bark with the palm of his hand.

"It wasn't a clean cut." He finally declared after finding a minor imperfection in the wood, a sigh that left his lips communicating his frustration.

"_Don't overdo it," _the ancient sword tone was reprimanding, his partner was way too perfectionist for his own good "_It was a fine cut, worthy of a master. I can tell."_

"Thanks," He turned his head to smile at the sword. He had to admit the whole deal about talking weapons was still quite perturbing, but he was starting to like the thing. **'Being'**, he corrected on his head his lack of respect immediately, even if he wasn't an organic creature he was still a comrade in arms, and he always respected those who fight alongside him.

Dirian returned to his usual stance with his body standing slightly sideways and Derflinger pointing towards the newest victim, a boulder the size of a man and as wide as a Troll. Many a weapon master would say that the style he used was unorthodox and too complex for anyone aside from himself to learn it, which kind of difficulted the purpose of passing it on to the next generations. What they didn't knew was that Dirian had no real interest in teaching his own personal way of fighting, all the mattered to him was improving it for himself. It wasn't really a matter of selfishness, he doubted anyone could use it with the same efficiency he did anyways, considering it relied too much on constantly changing its structure depending on the enemy for anyone without at least half of his processing abilities to perform even the easies of the techniques.

Although if anyone was stubborn enough to try despite his none too kind warnings and actually succeed, the person in question would have a free style that allowed versatile and quick use of most weapons without having to sacrifice strength for it. It took Dirian half of his life to finally decide which weapon suited the style more, finally sticking to two handed or greatswords. He just couldn't understand why people favored impractical things like flails and whips in favor of the jack of all trades of the weapons´s world. Swords could slash like axes without being hindered by size, in skilled hands they could crush a few jaws with a good strike with the blunt side or the pommel as any mace, they could pierce like spears without giving away their ability to hack away their enemies limbs, and even the range advantage of bows and blowguns could be exceeded with quick feet or superior throwing skills, many impaled ranged warriors could have testified to this themselves after facing Dirian if they weren't death already.

He named it 'Cobam Vasier', or 'sudden demise' in the local tongue just for that very reason. Most of his foes met their end at the precise strikes of the style even before unsheathing their own weapons. They style in itself was nothing more than a long recollection of different moves he had witnessed through his travels and that he had discretely modified to fit with his way of fighting; Dirian thoughts on the matter were that if something had proved to be effective before, why change it?.

The techniques themselves were varied, but most of them were aimed directly for heavy maiming or outright death in the minimal amount of hits possible. This was partly the reason of why Dirian preferred to use his fists in a battle he didn't wanted to turn into a massacre, for even with careful timing most victims of the Cobam Vasier ended up with major bleeding being the lesser of their problems.

He inhaled a generous amount of air and tensed his muscles in preparation. The rock looked sturdy and free of any visible cracks. Maybe its origins were in a mountain close by given its solid appearance instead of the usual sedimentary contexture of the ones found in forest soil; this made Dirian wonder how it even ended up in the middle of a forest, but nature was unpredictable like that.

He let his muscle memory take control with movements practiced thousands of times while doing slight corrections on the flight. In Dirian´s opinion, there was one moment that nothing else could replace during a fight. It was seeing all your preconceived plans and strategies come to fruition in a single instant, like the mechanism of a complex war machine tickling away into place to grant life to the construction as a whole. The marvels of creating and destroying so closely together was a sight to behold, and so, Dirian used all the brain power his mind could muster in that single instant to see the results of his work take place and awe himself with the eternal paradox that was existence.

Derflinger´s metal met another of the unfortunate, inanimate inhabitants of the forests with a low screech and an uneven flare of sparks that jumped from the short moment of superheating produced by two solids colliding against each other with unholy speed, the obvious superiority of steel over stone deciding the winner even before they had made contact. Dirian let himself enjoy each tiny piece of firefly-like molten material flying with the subsequent violent gust of wind produced by the void in space left behind by the encounter. Not feeling satisfied with just that single stroke, he let his arms flow with the movements that now came so naturally to him, making use of every bit of momentum left and creating more with each following strike to hit with as much speed as his human limits allowed him. He felt the power of the Gandalfr´s runes in his body, pushing him even farther and making his body look like an afterimage upon himself.

He was no longer paying attention to the results of the onslaught, completely concentrated in just reveling in the feeling of retaking his art again. He spent all of his life creating it, shaping it, perfecting it to the point of excellence. He couldn't be more proud of it than he currently was.

When Dirian´s attention returned to the boulder he saw it no longer resembled in any way its former shape, looking more like some kind of liberal work of art by an insane sheltered craftdwarf; it was strangely slightly hexagonal in shape with multiple 'scars' on its surface.

As he finished a side swept he infused all the remaining kinetic energy into a single 180 degrees turn ending with a roundhouse kick to the center of his creation, completely blowing the poor thing to smithereens. He stood there breathing wildly for a few moments while taking all the resultant information in.

"_Bloody hell," _Derfliger´s handle was spread wide apart as if like he were trying to produce a bewildered expression "_Now that´s what I call overdoing it, Partner. Nicely done, though."_

Dirian had the decency of looking sheepish while scratching the back of his head; he guessed that saying he went a little too far was an understatement considering the now smoking remains of the former boulder.

With the sudden adrenaline kick of the training gone and the peaceful atmosphere of the forest now completely undisturbed, Dirian decided it would be a good time to try reaching this 'Gandalfr' character again. He sat on the ground in a generic meditation pose with Derflinger resting on his lap and concentrated in pulling at the itch in the back of his mind, this time softly as to avoid any painful headache.

"**Care to talk for a minute or two?"** Dirian waited patiently while taking his time to slowly block out all the unnecessary senses he didn't needed at the moment.

"_**You may speak, Guardian.**_**" **A smile threatened with showing on his lips, but he held it back for dramatism's sake.

"**If you don't mind me asking, can you tell me with what tools does Gandalfr counts with to successfully protect the void mage?"** It was all or nothing. He presumed that the entity would be inclined to abide with his curiosity for the sake of completing its mission, but it was a blind shot.

"_**Magic.**_**"** Now that is an answer he should´ve expected.

"**More specifically?" **A long pause.

"_**The void mage´s magic."**_ This was a concept Dirian found most intriguing; the idea of actually sharing magical energy or _mana_, he shrugged a bit at the unfamiliarity of the word, with other beings was something unheard of back in his homeland. Considering that _mana_ was in essence part of a subject vital energy and that overuse of it can result in symptons of dizziness, fatigue and in some cases even death, the safety of using such measures was questionable at best.

"**Is the flow of magic between the Void mage and the Guardian steady?"** He most probably already knew the answer, but hearing it from the voice would leave no doubt in the matter.

"_**It is. A constant movement of magic in between Guardian and Guarded is necessary for such a bond to exist."**_ That was the longer answer he had gotten from the voice so far, but its words carried such possibilities that its sudden talkativeness passed unnoticed by Dirian.

"**Is the Void mage capacity to hold **_**mana**_** finite or infinite?"**

"_**Finite."**_

"**It's possible to measure it?" **An even longer pause.

"_**Improbable."**_

"**It´s considerably bigger than that of other mages?" **Another pause.

"_**Infinitely so."**_ Now Ain´t it prideful?

"**So let me get this straight, even if the Guardian is not making use of it, the bond remains as it its?" **That could mean that using the boost from the runes was inconsequential to Louise´s magic, being only a side effect and not actually asking for her _mana_ directly.

"_**Yes."**_

"**Can the magic be used in any manner not previously tested by me?" **An anxious pause.

"_**Yes."**_

"**Such as?"**

"_**Shared sensations." **_DirianHm´ed in thought.

"**Any other?"**

"_**Yes."**_

"**Will you tell me?"**

"_**No."**_ He snorted in amusement at the voice. If he hadn't know better he would had said that it was messing with him.

"**Can you tell me how to do this shared sensations thing?"** He would take what was given to him without complaining, after all, the voice didn't really have any obligation to tell him anything in the first place.

"_**Think about the void mage."**_

"**Done.**_**"**_

"_**Expand your awareness towards him."**_

"'**Her'**_**"**_ He corrected.

"**..."**

"**Fine…"** He tried to concentrate into a mental picture of Louise while trying to find out whatever he was supposed to do to 'expand' himself towards her.

"_**Now will yourself to feel what she feels."**_ Strangely enough, Dirian could actually feel something happening to his inner senses, like a little tickling bug crawling at the base of his neck. He continued at this until he heard a soft _click_ in his mind.

"…_The main principles of alchemy can be found in the page 326 of your tomes, as presented by the famous alchemist Rodius Septem alchemy´s main fundamental components can be divided into…" _Dirian´s mouth had long since fallen open at the coming influx of information currently seeping into could actually SEE what Louise was seeing with one of her eyes, he could smell the herbs in the potions laboratory, for Armok´s sake, he even knew that Louise fell asleep at the start of the class and was at a lost for to do now.

'**Damn.'**

The familiar sound of a branch snapping apart from his side put him on his guard instantly. He struggled to torn himself from the symbiotic link and jumped to his feet with Derflinger already in a battle ready stance in his hand, but a mop of blue hair emerging from behind a bush made him relax instantly.

"Miss Tabitha, what a pleasant surprise to see you around here." The line of sight of the recently appeared stoic mage traveled from him to the spot where the destroyed rock previously rested. Luckily, it appeared like she had not noticed when he was about to stab her just a moment ago. '**What she doesn't know can´t hurt her…'**

She nodded at his direction in greeting and resumed to shift her gaze around the clearing in the look for something. Dirian, always the curious one, decided to ask what was she looking for, deciding that maybe he could pay back some of the debts he had with her then and free some of his conscience of that weight.

"Reading spot." Those two simple words made something click inside of his mind, he added two and two together and made an 'O' shape with his mouth after realizing the implication of her short statement. The rock looked unnatural in the middle of the forest, probably being brought here by people and not nature, and that rock was her resting spot for reading. He started sweating profusely while fending ignorance with a shrug.

"I have no idea of what happened to the rock." Her piercing gaze told him immediately of his mistake, she never said anything about any rock. **'Goblin Crap.'**

"Guilty." Short, concise and incriminating; he couldn't understand why his lying abilities failed around her. It had to be the glasses, she looked like a scholarly pint-sized hammerer with them.

"Ha ha… Ok it was me, not that you didn't know that yet." He tried a pout but her stare only intensified in potency.

"How?" Now that was an interesting question, she was looking at Derflinger with interest and didn't seem really phased by the completely obliterated boulder, not that she was a walking bomb of bursting emotions to begin with, but she did witness his fight with this so called Guiche and so should know very well 'how' he did it. He summarized that she wanted to know how he was able to do those things and not how he did them per say. He wondered briefly whether or not to share the knowledge he had, but decided to do it in the end in light of the considerable respect she had raised with him with her actions, plus, she was a fellow scholar if her looks and trips to the library were anything to go by.

"There were many factors in play, ranging from skill to strength and a little bit of magic-"Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly, which he theorized was equivalent to an awe expression for her.

"You´re a noble?" Now it was Dirian´s turn to look stunned. **'A noble?' **He was never, ever, not even a single time before been called a noble, not that he wanted to be compared to one of those egocentric craven idiots mind you, but still; He remembered then that nobles in these lands were mages, or mages were considered nobles. It was really confusing actually, but he could try to unravel the secrets behind that confusing law at a later time, right now he had a blue haired mage to deal with.

"For Armok´s sake no, at least I hope not. And what I meant by using magic was that the magic of my master flows towards me, not my own, so it's really her doing." At least that´s what Gandalfr had explained to him about the familiar´s bond with their master, and it sounded plausible enough in his case, not that he needed any more proof after that session of shared senses. Tabitha´s stunned expression shifted to incredulity after hearing the last part. His eyebrow twitched minutely at the indirect insult to his master´s magical capabilities, not that she blamed her after that explosion he witnessed before in the transmutation class.

"Contrary to what most of you believe, Louise is by far the most competent magical practitioner I have met in my life." Her summoning of a human being and posterior creation of a spiritual bond with him was something nothing short of legendary, even more considering he was already marked by another magical entity of incredible power. He shuddered at the thought of what would the God of blood do to him when he realized his favorite toy had two owners now.

She nodded in dubious acceptance, obviously still not completely convinced about the pinkette´s proficiency in the arcane arts; many years of blowing even the simpler spells had surely left an impression.

When her eyes traveled once more to the final resting place of her sanctuary, Dirian´s guilt made him do something unexpected.

"If you want, I can make you a new place," The weak smile he had been carrying since the beginning of the almost one-sided conversation gained some strength at her curious glance "And actually make it comfortable to sit in."

He took her silence as an affirmative and looked around for the tree he had felled before, finding it almost intact; with a small grunt of effort, he lifted it and brought towards the main clearing. He did some quick calculations and measurements before cutting the trunk on more manageable sections with a few well placed cuts with Derflinger, then he scrabbled a hasty general image of what he wanted to make in the floor with a nearby branch.

He worked without a word except for the eventual affirmative sound and a few 'Hm's he emitted from time to time. Tabitha was actually surprised to watch the ease with which he worked the wood in shapes closely resembling the drawing on the ground with that rusty sword as his only tool, and everything in a pace she was sure no common carpenter would had been able to follow, not even the ones that worked in the palace for the royal family of Gallia, presumed to be best in their trade.

The minutes flew by for the only two humans in the forest, one working with religious fervor while the other admired her companion´s work. Within a few moments the main structure was finished. It was basically a simple throne with a roof and not really that impressive at firsts, but when he began adding details and more intricate carvings to the wood the piece of furniture easily started to look like something out of a professional´s workshop.

What Tabitha didn't knew was that Dirian was using the speed influx of the Gandalfr runes to power-work with inhuman results, it wasn't actually 'cheating' considering the runes would light up every time he was holding Derflinger, and there wasn't anything close resembling the tool he needed besides him, again.

After chiseling some of his personal touch into the material he grabbed a few of the rocky remains from the ground and started to carve them into a specific shape he had seen around the young mage very often—a dragon. He had carved many dragons and a full encyclopedia of mythical beings in his free times back in Tihronea, just another of those strange hobbies he kept picking up on his travels.

He screwed the dragon-shaped figurines into the chair´s armrests with a quick improvisation including Derflinger´s pommel and a hole in the wood. He took a moment to appraise his work before adding a final touch: with the little Halkegenian he had learned until then, he wrote with a steady hand the words 'I think, therefore I Exist' on the front, then he gestured Tabitha towards the throne. She walked carefully towards the chair as if wary of it suddenly jumping on her. When she finally rested herself on it with a comfortable stance Dirian flashed a beaming smile of pride towards the sky.

"So, what do you think?" She shifted a bit on it before getting a book from inside her robes and immersing herself into her favorite pass time, something Dirian conveniently took as acceptance. He sat on the ground close by the throne using Derflinger for support and started a small session of cloud watching, something he found mysteriously calming since coming to this world.

"Thank you." She said so softly he almost missed it. He just chuckled to himself while watching the puffy white clouds on the vast blue expanse above them.

'**The pleasure was mine.**' He had never before crafted something for someone besides himself, and he had been itching to know what others thought of his work since learning the trade with the dwarves. They did had said his art was majestic, but Dirian knew they had a somewhat biased impression of him, being a savior of the land and all that heroic stuff the dwarf community took so seriously.

"You know, the little people that taught me the art of crafting also instructed me in how to make materials like wood more durable through a special process of curing the bark of a the tree with resin. With enough time, I may be able to recreate those sticks you like waving around so much to use your magic, only that mine´s would be much stronger than the ones you guys are used to. Do you wanna be the first the get a super DirrStick? I´ll even make it a free lifetime offer for you! We guaranty it to be 100% more useful for poking at other mages or we´ll give you back your coins." Dirian was mentally patting himself in the back for a joke well done. There was nothing like seeing the reaction of a person to an unexpected ball of nonsense, and finding out if the blue haired mage could actually laugh would be an achievement for him.

Dirian realized through discrete but eager glances that whoever said that the little ice mage had no emotions whatsoever was a blind man, they just showed themselves very subtlety on her factions; all you needed was keen senses to see the sea of feelings under the mask of indifference she wore over her features. He hadn't been paying attention when they first met, but right now he could see them as clear as day; the little tingle of her eyelids, the twitching in the corner of her lips and the huge confusion clearly showing on her eyes, which suddenly stopped focusing in the book resting in her lap to stare at his´s own, this time with a specific kind of resolution that did nothing to appease the feeling of recognition currently turning his stomach into a tight knot.

"Why?" A common question, really. But the meaning behind it was much darker, much like her expression. He had been expecting a smile, maybe even a look screaming 'are you stupid?', but not this.

Dirian was at a lost for what to say; not because he couldn't, by contrary, it didn't take a veteran puzzle solver like him to figure out the right thing to say in such a situation. The problem Dirian was facing came in the form of the distrustful stare currently burning a hole through him. It spoke of pains much deeper than just mere superficialities and that was something his mind could not fathom, not out of nowhere, not in one so young, and not ever in a girl just starting her life in a world of luxury where everything seemed to be perfect.

Mistrustfulness, reluctance to believe in the gratefulness of others, aversion to emotions they can´t understand, apathy; the pieces of the riddle fell in place one by one inside of his mind with painful finality.

'**Abuse.' **

The reminder of the person he considered his wisest friend ran on his head and never before he regretted his tendency of forgetting the little lessons of life more than at this moment.

* * *

><p>'<em>Dirian, my brother. I know this may sound harsh from your perspective, but I truly feel like it needs to be said for your own good.' Hindan´s features had been turning sourer with each passing moment they approached the frontier. Dirian was having problems thinking what could be possibly troubling him to such extend to make the usually gentle sage lose his calm demeanor, something easier say than done.<em>

'_You´re an insensible person.' His eyes greatly widened with shock at the solemn expression of his friend._

'_Your inability to understand the feelings of others weights heavily in the way you see relationships and how you understand society.'_

'_And as if your lack of empathy wasn't impediment enough to maim that already crippled social awareness of yours, fate gave birth to you with the worst possible gift it could grant a mind that could not understand others—the desire to do so.'_

'_There is no room for illogical concepts in a world of reason, no place for abstracts in a plane where solids facts rule, and that turns the greatest part of your persona into a hinder for its owner.'_

'_Coming to understand that human acts of irrationality are something natural will be your final test in existence, brother. Only when you realize that on your own, will you really be able to begin comprehending the paradox that is mankind. I can only hope that until that moment arrives you won´t ruin too many lives with your ignorance.' Dirian eyes narrowed dangerously in annoyance at the last statement._

'_Hindan, is this about that fool we killed last week?' __**I thought we were already through this!**_

'_My friend… this is about life. That and the well-being of all the souls that may cross paths with yours.' _

'_You can´t keep on smiling forever.'_

* * *

><p>"Why?" She repeated in the same exact manner never taking her eyes away from him, but for Dirian it was like a bucket of cold water to the face. The response he would´ve usually used in such a situation was lost to him, right now a plain 'Because I could' just didn't seem enough to cut the cold tension rising in the air.<p>

It was one of those moments when existence just seemed to stop its course for him, although he knew it was just his brain going into full-throttle to compensate for the lack of sense in a situation. His mind went over the work currently tasked to it with the insane motivation of not being outdone, but it had reached a blockade. A logical lagoon in the time frame of the conversation was stopping his thought processes from advancing to the section where it would´ve normally assemble a reasonable response to outside stimuli. His mind, guided by common sense, backtracked to the second step of analyzing the auditory logs in search of something, anything it could´ve possibly overlooked in its haste, but the result was the same.

His brain, like the chancellor of an infinitely complex organization of billions of individual workers, each which was tasked with a singular purpose, called for an assembly of the most important leaders in the mental community of the 'Stubborn Dog Republic' through the pyre of confusion, the feared taboo signal of the nation for lack of understanding; the cognitive, logical, perceptual and emotional heads of state answered the call with as much hurry as the worrisome situation allowed them.

* * *

><p>The council rooms, also known as the 'Halls of Intelligence', were bursting with the greatest amount of mental processes it had to hold since the great depression in the first years of the formation of the republic, a period of time only called in careful whispers like 'Puberty'. The room was divided into fourth areas, each representing an important part of the mind of their lord.<p>

In the center of the room the three white robed elders, logic, experience and creativity quietly stood with everlasting dignity at the wait for the chancellor to make his entrance.

In the right corner, the syndicate of the five senses awaited with their usual curious expressions towards all and everything that happened in the room.

The farthest away seats in the left side were occupied by the basic necessities, each of them doing the things that marked them as themselves without much care for anything else; except hunger, which looked like he wanted to eat something… or someone.

Finally, the center of the room was reserved for the rest of the unseated processes, like the misunderstood feelings and personality traits of the government.

The room suddenly grew quiet when the main dome of _glassmindzine_ in the ceiling started to shine a bright yellow light, signaling the arrival of chancellor brain to the council.

"_I believe everyone´s informed of the situation already, so I´ll go right ahead to the matter at hand," _For the younger processes to actually catch a glimpse of chancellor brain was something almost unheard of, evidently signifying the importance of the meeting. "_Our lord is having problems in the great out-there and is our duty as his mind to help him save face, any suggestions?"_

"_We should reanalyze the recordings of the conversation to get a better feel of the situation." _Spoke the common sense from the center of the room, his comment making the three elders frown in frustration, especially logic.

"_Believe us when we say that is not going to help."_ Replied experience, logic limited himself to a groan.

"_Play it anyways!"_ Hurried exasperation.

"_Fine. Hearing, if you would,"_ Said sense with inhumanly big ears pulled a lever on his desk with a resigned expression.

"_Why?_" Tabitha´s voice traveled through the room seemingly from nowhere.

"…"

"_Is that all?_" Asked a confused patience.

"_Play it again. This time with sight."_ Requested Chancellor Brain.

An image of platinum-blue hair accompanied by an angry set of eyes with similar pigmentation and a scowling face came to life in the middle of the room with frightening realism.

"_For the love of Dirian!_" Shrieked exaggeration.

"_I feel terrible for our lord._" Mourned a sad compassion.

"_Indeed. We may as well be facing something worse than the pink-terror." _The entire room was surprised to actually heard ambition talking; she usually kept to herself in a corner scheming profitable plans for the future.

"_I say we break her neck! She obviously is threatening us with that look!" _Self-preservation was the one who broke the silence with an extreme proposal worthy of the republic yearly drunken nights.

"_KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL!_" An inhuman roar resounded through the halls from the left side.

"_See? Primal instinct agrees with me_!" Now it was the time for the rest of the room to roll their eyes, even obviousness.

"_Instinct is always in agreement with killing, you dumbass…_" Came the voice of the speaker, transmitting the thoughts of the rest.

"_So? That doesn't make his vote any less true." _

"_SILENCE ladies AND GENTLEMEN! You will all wait for your turn to talk._" It was an unspoken rule that no process could talk twice about the same matter without it being requested by the chancellor, and manners was always trusted with enforcing it.

"_I ask for pie._" It was also an unspoken custom for everyone in the room to ignore hunger´s requests.

"_I think we should-_" The proposal of lust was stopped in mid-sentence by a raised hand.

"_Do. Not. Even. Think about it, lust._" Interrupted temperance.

"_I propose a reboot._" All the eyes turned to the very center of the room to look at a lone process with a jester hat.

"_What?_" asked a godsmacked creativity.

"_A reboot._" Humor´s eyes were set with fiery determination.

"_And why in Dirian´s name would you propose something like that?_" Came the voice of logic trying to be, well, the voice of logic in the room.

"_We made a good joke… and were chastised because of it. For generations my family has been in charge of our lord sense of humor, always doing our very best to share the lord´s unique and beautiful views of the world to the heathens. There was a time when a good joke from the great stubborn could make thousands spit their guts out while rolling in the floor. Times of great laughter, times of amusement, times of HUMOR! And now… our lord may lose hope… hope of his jokes making the world a brighter place. We must fix this, and soon. That´s why my proposal remains strong." _Silence ruled the halls upon Humor heated speech.

"_Agreed."_ Diligence was practically crying in his desk by the end of it.

One by one, the majority of the council voiced their choice, and in the end, it resulted in a tie of 49 against 49 with only one more process left to vote.

"_Aw shit." _Cursed an unidentified process upon seeing the last member in the line, closely followed by many more.

"_Um, um, um, um, um!_" Indecisiveness passed his hand over both levers uncountable times, from right to left, from above, from under, around them, but he quickly drew it back every time he was close to finally grasping one.

"_JUST GRAB A FUCKING LEVER ALREDY!" _No one was surprised by anger outburst, but they did were by patience throwing a block of concrete towards indecisiveness´s head with deadly accuracy. The impact made the process lose his balance (and consciousness) and by some luck provided by the holy smiles, he fell over the level of 'Yes'.

"…"

"_What are you looking at me for? He was taking too long, even by my standards."_ Everyone had something to say to patience uncharacteristic actions but they were promptly interrupted by the whole world shutting down to darkness.

* * *

><p>Dirian blinked once, twice, and then shrug himself of a shiver that ran through his spine.<p>

'**Weird…'**

"Miss Tabitha…," He started slowly "As for why I did it, I think the answer is… That I don't know."

Now it was Tabitha´s turn to blink in confusion. Although she regained her anger a moment later and resumed her glaring with doubled intensity.

"I… apologize if I caused any misunderstanding," Dirian scratched at the back of his neck in plain confusion, why couldn't he remember what he was thinking just a moment ago? "I´ve been told before that I tend to obviated the feelings of others with my lack of social resources." He finished with a sour smile at the memory, but he couldn't shake the feeling of déjà vu at it coming to him out of nowhere.

Tabitha was having a moment of mixed emotions herself. Her belief of him being a spy send from Gallia trying to trick her into one of King Joseph´s mind games was starting to lose ground at his apology; his men weren't exactly the most polite in the realm. But she still was dubious about this man; never before had someone gave her such a 'gift' without ulterior motives, and she doubted he would be the exception in a world where everyone is an opportunist.

"I just felt like it was the right thing to do." He said the last words softly, like a child trying to explain his actions to a disappointed parent.

Tabitha didn't immediately let her guard down; she took her time to analyze his features in search for any sign of dishonesty with added care. Finding none, she relaxed partly, if only a bit.

"…Alright." His eyes snapped from the ground to look at her face with surprise. She still looked kind of angry, but at least she was not longer trying to melt him with the stare of doom.

'**Phew'** Dirian thought he was going to end up mad with all the suspense.

"Hey," Dirian felt his cheeks heat up for reasons unknown while fidgeting with Derflinger´s handle with his thumb "Do you want to eat some pie, I suddenly got an incontrollable urge to get some. You can take it as a peace offering." He chuckle sheepishly upon seeing her eyes return to their usual stillness. **'Silly me, of course she wouldn't.'**

He received his umpteenth chocking surprise that day when she reached for her book and nodded in acceptance of the offer.

"**Well… I guess pie saves the day."**

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes: Sorry for the delay people; I was kind of busy with life ups and downs. Now, for this chapter I finally address the dressing deal. I apologize for not fixing the grammar mistakes on the first 5 chapters until now. I was leaving them like that for the purpose of comparing my writting of then with my style right now, but I´ll get right to it after posting this one. Feel free to review about any suggestion you may have or just to let me know if you like the story. As always <em>Thanks for reading!<em>  
><strong>


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